Thou Shalt Not Suffer A Witch
by Immortaldreaming
Summary: Ginny grew up all her life in a Catholic family, studying the bible. Suddenly, age eleven, she gets a letter to go to Hogwarts. Her family abandons her, and she's left alone. But who's this blond guy, trying to make all her hurt better?
1. Prologue

Molly Weasley ran up the stairs of the Burrow to the nearest free bathroom and vomited up her breakfast. That was her first warning of her seventh child. Wiping her mouth clean of bile, Molly walked carefully down the stairs again, where Ronald was crying already, deprived of attention for only moments as he was.

No one could no about this child. Molly already knew that. With Voldemort about, people needed a hero. And what better hero than the seventh son of a seventh son? And not just that, the seventh generation of seventh sons. The Weasley family had been waiting for just such a child from Molly ever since she married Arthur. She could not risk any of her children, so there was never any question for her.

When Arthur arrived home from work, she was already gone, leaving baby Ronald absolutely screaming for attention. Arthur didn't have to search far for a note. There it was, in Ronald's crib. Molly's aunt was violently ill, and she only wanted Molly. Molly had arranged for a babysitter, but they couldn't start till the next day.

Molly staid away for a year. She sent birthday presents to her children, which all arrived right on time, and Christmas presents. She gave birth to a beautiful daughter, but instead of relieving her worries, the daughter only increased them.

The first girl born into the Weasley family for over ten generations. The first born daughter of a first born daughter spanning all of Molly's own history, and the seventh child of a seventh child. She didn't need to be a son to be special.

Ginevra Weasley was born the impossible child. The one that could never have come, but finally did. Molly looked after Ginevra Weasley for the first few months of her life, before she knew she had to go back to the Burrow.

Molly made a snap decision. She was in a muggle community, and there was no way she could risk going to a wizards community. There were some she would trust to raise her child, but with Voldemort being about, as he was, no one could be trusted. Shut away from all wizarding news for a year, she had not heard of his downfall, else she would never have entrusted her only daughter to a muggle orphanage.

Coming home to the Burrow, Molly was already too late to reclaim her daughter, though she attempted to the moment she heard the news. She told no one. How could she? She had left a Weasley child in the grip of muggles.

Molly was beside herself with grief. She told everyone that her aunt had died, finally, after a year long struggle, and that it had been heartbreaking to watch it, and everyone tried to cheer her up, but no one knew her true woe.


	2. Chapter One

"Kids, dinner!" The sharp sound of America Lee's voice came from downstairs, and Ginevra Lee saved the essay she had half typed and walked downstairs, to join her brothers and sisters at the dinner table. America served up the roast chicken and vegetables on each plate, making sure, as she always did, that no one got a single gram more than any other.

"How was everyone's day?" She asked, after handing out the plates and sitting down. Henry, her husband, started, and it went down, from the eldest to the youngest. Ginny, in the middle, explained how her essay to enter Crimson was going well. All her elder sisters had gone to Crimson before her, and now it was her turn.

Christopher, the next in age, told about how his boy scouts were going, how he had helped a blind man cross the street earlier in the day. It continued on in this manner until all six boys and five girls had encountered their day, and all the plates were emptied. It was a Wednesday night, and therefore Ginny's turn to was the dishes, which she did gladly, as the rest of her family moved in to the den and watched their after dinner programs. Christopher dried and put the dishes away after she was done, and when they were all in the den, after their usual half hour of television, Henry handed out mail.

When he handed a fat envelope to Ginny, none were more surprised than Ginny herself. Ginny had never before received any kind of mail. She had some friends at her school, but she was a shy girl, and mostly kept herself to herself. She had once had a pen pal in Australia, but her pen pal had moved, and hadn't posted a change of address, and had never posted anything since.

Ginny studied the curious green writing on the envelope. It was addressed to her, but more than that, it was addressed to her bedroom. Assuming it must be a joke by one of her siblings, she opened it, and read it.

She had barely gotten past the word Wizardry before the letter was snatched away from her, by a very angry looking America. America glanced at the letter, and her lips pursed, her face going white.

"Ginny, dear, go up to your bedroom, and pray that this prankster does not send a letter to you again." She said, snatching up the envelope and another piece of paper which had floated out and scrunching them into a ball in her fist.

Ginny, quite startled, did exactly that, behaving as the good child she had always been. Kneeling before her small bed, in the room she shared with her four sisters, Ginny prayed that whatever prankster had sent her that letter about Witchcraft would never send her another.

Her sisters trotted up to bed soon after, and none of them said a word to Ginny, though they each glanced at the small girl, who in her way was so different to the rest of the family.

Ginny was the youngest girl, and the only one who had been adopted into this family. Everyone knew, including Ginny herself. And could this mysterious letter be something about her real family?

Ginny finished her essay, and turned the computer off before she went to sleep that night. She wasn't the last one up. At ten thirty she had gone downstairs for a glass of milk, to help keep her awake and focused on her essay, when she had heard whispered voices in the kitchen, and she knew America and Henry were talking about her.

Ginny couldn't help but think about what she had seen on the letter. Though she had only read the first line, that hadn't stopped her from seeing the rest of the letter. A photographic memory which had helped her get A's in all subjects before now helped her read exactly what was on the letter.

But it didn't make any sense to her.

Days went by, her sisters and brothers spending most of their time out with friends, Ginny edited and perfected her essay to Crimson. Nightly she noticed Henry taking letters out of the mail chute only to throw them in the fire, incinerating all evidence that there had ever been so many letters to Ginny Lee.

She spent her days trying to find Hogwarts, to find out if it was real. She googled it, but the search engine yielded nothing. Not a single mention of that word anywhere on the internet. She tried looking in books of all secondary schools, but there wasn't a single one which mentioned Hogwarts.

It was growing closer to September every day, and she still hadn't found a single mention of Hogwarts, or any mention of the Headmaster there, a man named Dumbledore.

An acceptance letter into Crimson arrived, and her bag was all packed to go to the boarding school with her sisters on the first of September.

Climbing into the large black car Henry Lee drove with her sisters, Ginny was excited to finally be arriving at the prestigious gates of Crimson. In her bag was her brand new apple laptop, a celebratory present for getting into Crimson, the traditional present, that had been given to her sisters before her, and her brothers when they had been accepted into Chivas.

Arriving at the gates, Ginny pulled her bag out of the back and dragged it towards the gate, where the rest of the first years were waiting, near to an overly large man. Ginny had to look twice at him. Surely he was far too tall and too large to truly be a man. At precisely eight am the gate opened, and the large man waited outside while the girls all filed past him. Except for Ginny.

A large hand, with five fingers each the size of a sausage clutched her upper arm, and she cried out for help. But already she found herself in the backseat of a rather different car, her bag with all her possessions on the sidewalk, and the man who had grabbed her sitting beside her, as a man with a dark cap covering his bright red hair quickly drove off.

"We 'ave to get there before eleven." The large man said, while Ginny was looking around her with wide eyes, her voice completely forgotten. Kidnapped! She was being kidnapped!

"We'll get there in plenty of time, Hagrid, then I need to take me own boys there." The man in the front said. He glanced in the rear view mirror and caught sight of Ginny's horrified face. He swore briefly, and nearly drove the car off the road. "Christ, if she dies of fright Hagrid, Albus'll kill us."

"No need to worry there, Arthur, she'll be right. Got any o' your wife's cocoa? Sure it'll be just the thin' to warm 'er up and convince 'er we ain't gonna kill 'er." The man in the front, Arthur, grabbed a thermos from the front seat, and passed it back. Hagrid, for Ginny had worked out by now that that was the large man's name, poured a cup full of steaming brown liquid, and passed it to her.

Ginny took it in shaking hands, but didn't raise it to her lips. Looking around her, she found herself arriving at King's Cross, where the large man got out, and here actually picked her up and carried her out. Ginny tried to scream now. She saw people around her, who she was sure could help, but the man driving the car had pre-empted her. Every attempt she made to scream for help disappeared from her lips. Now she really had no voice.

"I'll see you at Hogsmeade on Saturday, then, Hagrid." Arthur said, before driving off. Ginny tried to move, but the large man Hagrid had her completely held, in a way that looked to passersby as if she were merely exhausted and couldn't walk herself.

She looked around for someone, anyone who might recognise her, and wonder what she was doing in the arms of a strange man, but there was no familiar face. And then the youngest Lee did something she had never done before, not even as a baby. She sobbed.

Her silent sobs weren't noticed by anyone, but that was all the better to her. Ginny could never have lived with herself if she knew that someone had seen such a display of emotion and helplessness from her.

Ginny was sobbing so hard, she didn't even notice as Hagrid walked right through a wall. She stopped, suddenly though, as she was put down, and she saw a scarlet engine before her. There needn't have been a spell on her to be silent now. In awe she looked at the bright engine, and the few people leisurely walking about and picking and choosing from any number of the empty compartments.

"Yer luggage'll be at Hogwarts for ye already, Gin, and ye'll find lotsa new kids who know no more'n you. Professor Dumbledore should be here soon enough and he'll explain it all." The large man said. Ginny barely registered his words, until the word Dumbledore sounded like a gong within her head. At the mention of the name of the Headmaster of the mysterious Hogwarts, Ginny looked around her wildly for Hagrid, to demand an explanation, to demand an answer, but he had already gone.

Ginny looked around for a way out, but there wasn't a single way she could determine. The entire platform, which she found was called platform nine and three quarters, was a sealed room. There was no entrance or exit for the train, or for the people now milling about.

Ginny sat quickly on a bench, against a stone wall, and looked around her with wide eyes. She said a quick word to test her voice, and was relieved that it was back. But there was no way she was going to risk help from any of these strange assortment of people. They wore clothes from decades ago. Some of them wore odd cloaks, or robes. One was dressed in a perfect tuxedo, with a cape across one shoulder.

And the children were no better. Some were her age, and they looked around them with wonder. Others were older, and seemed to have been here before.

A girl with bushy hair walked past her, and Ginny was sure she hadn't seen her before. She seemed to just step out of the wall. She carried a large trunk behind her, just like all the other children who hadn't already chosen spots. This girl was dressed normally, completely normally, but there were no parents following her in, and she seemed quite comfortable in the environment, Ginny couldn't ask her for help.

"And Minerva thought the Dursley's were bad." Ginny was startled at the soft voice, and her head whipped around to see that she had completely missed as an old man had sat down beside her, folding his wrinkled hands in the lap of his pale blue robe. His half moon spectacles widened his periwinkle blue eyes from her perspective, and she was immediately won over, by his kind expression.

"Are you... Dumbledore?" She asked. Apart from a goodbye to her parents, and sisters, these words were the first which had passed her lips all day. The man smiled, and nodded.

"Yes, I am Albus Dumbledore. Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Which your parents... unwisely... decided to hide from you." He looked down at her, giving Ginny the distinct impression that he was looking into her mind. She shivered, and looked away.

Ginny didn't say much, as Dumbledore explained the situation for her. She was a witch, a born witch, and she needed to go to Hogwarts, to learn to control her powers. Everything she would need in the wizarding world would be paid for her, by the school.

He would be going to her parents, later that night, and explain the situation to them calmly. That there was no other option.

"Have you ever done something, which you couldn't explain?" Dumbledore asked, when Ginny asked why she had to be a witch. She shrugged, but thought about her seventh birthday, when the cake had been vanilla. She had really been craving chocolate, and she had glared at the cake. She spooned it into her mouth reluctantly, and found it tasted like chocolate. Looking down, she found it had been chocolate, though everyone else was eating vanilla, and it had certainly been vanilla before.

There were other things which happened, here and there, and even her photographic memory. She stared with wide eyes as Dumbledore explained that this was the magic within her, being let out.

"Magic is dangerous when it is uncontrolled." Ginny remembered a time when she was nine. She had been obsessed with snakes. She had stared at a picture of a boa constrictor, wishing she could see it in real life, when her sister Miley, in the bunk below her, suddenly screamed, as a boa constrictor was tightening around her, crushing all breath out of her.

"Most witches and wizards have wands, which help control their magic. And while for many it is essential for any spells, there are some who don't need it. But the discipline with working with a wand helps all, especially those who don't need it."

And so, by eleven am, when the scarlet engine with the words Hogwarts Express written on it took off, Ginny was seated in a compartment all alone, in the school robes which Dumbledore had given to her before leaving.


	3. Chapter Two

"Do you mind if I sit here?" Ginny looked up, and noticed that the girl with bushy hair had walked in. She had been reading a book that Dumbledore had given her, and hadn't noticed her. She nodded, before returning to it. Dumbledore had said that all her textbooks would be waiting for her in a trunk for her to arrive at Hogwarts, as would all of her possessions, which had been picked up by Arthur on his way back home to take his own children to the train.

The girl put her trunk up on the shelf, and sat down across from her. She studied her for a moment, looking at Ginny's dark brown hair, and her pale purple eyes, the eyes which had always marked her for an outsider in her family. Her pale skin which never saw the sun seemed to glow in the pale lamplight in the compartment.

"I'm Hermione Granger." The girl across from her said after a few minutes of silence.

"I'm Ginny Lee." Ginny said, taking the girl's hand and giving it a slight shake.

"I see you're already in your school robes." Hermione said. "And is that Hogwarts A History you're reading? That's one of my favourite books." Ginny shrugged, and went back to reading. She wasn't used to talking to people. The most conversation she ever had was talking about her day over dinner.

"I didn't happen to notice another trunk. Did you forget it?" Hermione asked this nicely, as if she were worried about Ginny. Ginny shook her head.

Hermione frowned, but deciding she apparently wasn't going to get any good conversation out of Ginny, she took out a book and started reading.

The compartment door opened again, and neither girl looked up to notice the small blonde girl who floated in. Putting her trunk up with Hermione's, the girl sat down next to Ginny, and pulled out a magazine called the Quibbler, and reading it.

By the time the lunch trolley came by, the compartment was full. Hermione had eventually given up her book to greet Neville, Fred and George as they came in, and introduced herself to the blonde girl, a first year named Luna.

When the lunch trolley came, Ginny heard everyone begin to talk about two people who apparently weren't there for some reason, Ron Weasley, who she guessed was related to the twins, Fred and George, and Harry Potter, who didn't seem to be related to anyone, but she noticed a change in everyone's voices when they talked about him.

Ginny was happy when the train ride came to an end. She followed everyone outside, and saw the large man Hagrid holding a lantern, calling out for first years to come to him, so walked over to him, along with Luna.

Ginny stood at the back of the throng of first years, clutching her book to her chest. People all around her were talking to each other excitedly. She already knew everything about Hogwarts from her book, and now she could see the large group of boats which were going to take them all across the lake to the castle, which she could just see up ahead.

The journey across the lake was serene. All the students were silent, looking over the edges of their boats and watching the lake ripple. Ginny sat at the very back, the furthest she could get from Hagrid, and watched the boats in front, trying to figure out what was pushing them.

She had ruled out tracks, and being pulled in by ropes, and she couldn't think of anything else. She was looking over the side of the boat, with a sudden burst of nausea when she saw a thick tentacle below her, seeming to do a dance. Intrigued, she leaned in closer, all thoughts of vomiting out of her head as she watched the monster dance in the water below her. If it wasn't for Luna, and a boy named Colin Creevey who had sat in her boat, she would have gone overboard.

Ginny followed everyone else up to the castle, and stood with the other first years as four professors came out.

"We, are the heads of houses." One of them said, a tall man with oily black hair. "There are four houses. Everything you do affects your house points, at the end of the year, the house with the most points, wins the house cup."

"All good behaviour," A woman in a deep green robe started next. "Will earn your house points. Any rule breaking, will lose your house points."

"The houses," A very short man, who even the short first years stood nearly a head above him. "Are as follows. Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. Each house has certain attributes, which you shall discover inside."

"As you'll notice when you enter, there are four tables, one for each of the houses. We'll each stand in front of the houses, so you can identify them, when you are sorted." The last woman said, with her head of wiry curls. "My name is Professor Sprout, and I am head of the Hufflepuff house."

"I am Professor Flitwick, and I am head of the Ravenclaw house." The short man said.

"Professor McGonagall, head of the Gryffindor house." Went the woman in the deep green robe.

"And I, am Professor Snape, head of the Slytherin house." Said the man with the oily black hair.

Ginny stored their names and houses in her memory, before they opened the door, and let the first years in. Ginny followed last, looking around her. She saw four banners, and quickly associated each banner with it's house, without needing to see the professors stop in front of the tables. She could already guess one thing without needing to particularly look at any of the other banners. The Gryffindor was obviously the brave house.

"Wow." Everyone around her was looking up at the ceiling. She knew exactly how it was supposed to be enchanted, so she didn't look up. She saw a group of three boys with bright red hair sitting over in the Gryffindor table, next to the brown haired Hermione. She guessed the other red haired boy must be Ron, but she couldn't guess if any of those were the Harry Potter they had talked about.

Glancing over at the Slytherin table, the first thing Ginny saw was a small blonde boy, sitting between two large goons. And the blonde boy, who seemed to be looking at the first years, as everyone else was, was looking directly at her. She could feel his gaze, studying her, and shuddered, looking away quickly from his clear grey eyes.

The first years stopped in front of a three legged stool with an old, rugged hat on it. Ginny was too busy looking over at the Slytherin table from beneath her hair to pay much attention to the song, but she did manage to glean that she was right. Gryffindor was the brave house. Ravenclaw was the smart house. Slytherin was the elitist house, and Hufflepuff was the leftover house.

Already she could tell that she didn't want to be in Hufflepuff. She watched as people were sorted, and then her name was called out. She sat on the stool, with the hat on her head. She had already guessed that there was some sort of speaker set up in the hat. She hadn't been paying enough attention to notice it's mouth actually move, but she had definitely heard the sounds coming from there. Now she guessed there was a remote volume control. She hadn't heard the voice speak to the other first years when they wore it, but she noticed it now that it was in her own head. No, she couldn't believe it was in her head. It must be in her ear.

"Hmm, I'm not quite sure. You'd do well, in Gryffindor. Perhaps Ravenclaw is the place for you. Heh, I guess Hufflepuff would do well too. Or Slytherin, I guess it could be. Where should you be, oh, dearie me." Ginny shuddered at the bad rhyming.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop the rhyming, if you stop that mind of yours. You seem to be quite smart. Maybe you should be in Ravenclaw." Ginny wondered how the hat had known she was annoyed with it's rhyming, and guessed she must have spoken aloud, though she didn't remember doing so.

"You have a large capacity for bravery, I see, in the face of adversity I can tell you'll rise above all else. Your capacity for love and hard work are strong, too, I see. Hufflepuff could be right. I know! I shall put you in SLYTHERIN." The last word was shouted out at the rest of the school, and Ginny followed in everyone else's footsteps, standing up, putting the hat back on the stool, and walking over to the Slytherin table.

Ginny found the nearest available spot was sitting right across from the blonde boy who had stared at her. She considered, for a moment, moving somewhere else, but by then she had hesitated by the seat, and she decided to just sit down.

Ginny was pleasantly surprised when no one began to talk to her straight away. Everyone was silent, as they watched the rest of the first years being sorted.

* * *

**A/N: **Thanks for the reviews guys! ^^ I thrive off of good comments of what I write. Hope you like the new chappie, and I shall try to post the next one soon!


	4. Chapter Three

When the last person sat down, Ginny watched Dumbledore stand up, and sweep his arms out to include the entirety of the students as they each sat at the four tables.

"Welcome, all of you, to another year at Hogwarts. Welcome back to many of you, and to some of you, I greet you for the first time. I am Albus Dumbledore, headmaster, here at Hogwarts, and before we begin, a few words. As always, the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds to students, unless accompanied by a Professor for class. A full list of all rules at Hogwarts can be found, as always, in the office of our caretaker, Argus Filch. But, you can't think about rules on an empty stomach. So, I invite you all to eat!" As he finished, food appeared on large plates in the middle of the table.

Ginny looked around her, sure she would find some logical explanation for this to happen. Maybe the food had been dropped by wires, which everyone had been too busy watching Dumbledore to notice drop down. She felt above the food first, looking for wires, but couldn't find any.

Ginny looked under the table, to see if there was some way that someone could have been underneath and slid the food up. But she couldn't find anything.

"Satisfied that it's magic, are you?" Ginny looked up, startled, into the clear grey eyes of the boy across from her.

"It can't be magic." Ginny said. "Magic doesn't exist." She gave up looking for the mirrors, her new theory, and grabbed some chicken from the plate in front of her.

"You're a pureblood, and you don't believe in magic?" He raised a sceptical eyebrow.

"Pureblood?" Ginny asked, not sure what he was talking about. The boy just gave a smirk, and shook his head.

"I'm Draco, by the way." He said, and held out his hand. "Draco Malfoy."

"Ginny Lee." Ginny took his hand, and gave it a polite shake.

"Lee?" Draco furrowed his eyebrows at this, and glanced across at the Gryffindor table, where from memory Ginny knew the red haired trio were sitting. He frowned, and looked closer at that table, but seeming not to find something he smiled, and leaned back.

"Looks like Potter and Weasley aren't coming this year." He said, to the goon on his right, nodding over at the Gryffindor table. Next to Ginny another boy turned his head, and turned back, smiling, his teeth a bright white against his otherwise dark complexion.

"Looks like a good year for Slytherin." He said, and the goon on the left chuckled. Ginny drew her left knee up to her chest and hugged it briefly, before eating the food she had put on her plate. By the time she was finished, noticed that the savoury food had all been replaced by sweet food for dessert, so she put some ice cream, and a strawberry tart, her favourite, into her plate and ate that with her right hand, letting her left hand hug her knee to her.

Ginny was too busy watching the blonde haired Draco through the curtain of her own dark brown hair to pay attention to Dumbledore's speech. When finally they left dinner to go to the dormitories, Ginny was at the last of the rest of the first years as they followed the prefects downstairs.

The layout of Hogwarts was stark in Ginny's mind, from reading Hogwarts, A History. She followed the maps in there in her mind as they went down to the dungeons, and the Slytherin common room.

Most of the second years and up had already arrived, as the prefects had walked slowly, giving the first years a chance to remember the way, and a chance to soak in the few quick rules the prefects were telling them.

Ginny added them to the rather short list of rules included in Hogwarts, A History. The Slytherin common room was exactly as it had been described in her book. Cold, despite the still warm September air, with stone walls, and green and silver tapestries everywhere.

There were a few seventh years on the couches, and a fifth year was playing chess with a fourth year, but most everyone who had arrived had already gone to the dormitories. The prefects stopped in front of two winding staircases.

"You'll all note that your dormitories are all the way at the top. For girls, it's to the left and at the top, for the boys, it's to the right and at the top." Said the female prefect, with a flick of her dirty blonde hair. "You'll notice if you ever try to get into the girl's dormitories, boys, the staircase will change into a slide. Do not try this. And girls, fraternising is forbidden, you don't want all your housemates to hate you by sneaking up to the boys dormitories late at night." The speech was obviously memorised, as Ginny was the only female present.

Ginny left the rest of the first year Slytherins and walked up the winding staircase to the room which was going to be her own. There was a king sized four poster bed in the centre of the room, with a large trunk at the foot of the bed, and she saw her own suitcase sitting neatly in the middle of the bed.

Ginny unpacked her things, noticing that all her new clothes were green and silver. She looked around for a power port to plug her new laptop in, but couldn't find one. She knew it didn't have any charge, so she just put it at the back of her closet.

Changing into some green pants and a silver singlet top, the most comfortable pyjamas she could see in there, she slipped into the king sized bed, and pulled out her next book, flicking through it once before putting it away and going to sleep, her mind going through the words she had just read.

Waking up the next morning, Ginny went straight down to the Great Hall, where she knew breakfast was going to be.

The first person there, Ginny sat down at the Slytherin table, and found there was plenty of hot food there for her already. She put some bacon, eggs, and toast on her plate, and poured herself a glass of an orange coloured juice. She took a sniff, and guessed it was some sort of pumpkin juice. Taking a surreptitious sip, she decided she liked it, and quickly downed the glass.

Pouring herself another drink, she watched as some other students came in. She ate her breakfast quickly, and saw Professor Snape walking down the Slytherin table, stopping at each student.

"Miss Lee, how wonderful of you to join us here at Slytherin." He said, as he reached her. He handed her a blank green sheet of paper, tapping it with his wand. Ginny watched closely as squares appeared, and it became a time table.

Ginny took the sheet, thanking him, and then looked closely at the piece of card. She gave up trying to figure out exactly how everything happened. She guessed a lot of tricks were going to happen over the next few years, she might as well just give up trying to figure out how it works.

Ginny noticed where her first class was, in the dungeons, and used her mental map of the castle to make her way down there. She noticed she was the first one there, and waited outside the classroom, until Professor Snape came, to let her in, still the only one currently there.

"At least it seems someone can make it here on time." He noted, in his dry, sarcastic voice. Five minutes after the lesson was supposed to begin the rest of the first years showed up, the Slytherin boys and the Hufflepuffs. Ginny had already listened to five minutes worth of notes, storing them away into her memory by the time the rest of the class arrived, and Professor Snape didn't bother repeating them.

"Next class, bring your cauldrons, and potion making kits, we'll begin with a simple sleeping draft." He ended the lesson on, and Ginny quickly made her way to where she knew the Charms classroom to be. All the Slytherins followed her, realising that she knew her way to the class better than any of them did.

They met the Ravenclaws in the Charms class, and Ginny stored the lesson away into her memory before going out to break. The rest of the day proceeded in much the same manner, with Ginny being the first to her classes, and storing every word the Professors were saying in her remarkable memory.

During her lunch Ginny saw a second year walk past her with messy black hair. Though she had no idea how she knew it, looking at him she immediately knew that this was the Harry Potter the people in her compartment had been talking about. Watching him through the fall of her hair as he passed her, Ginny tried to figure out what it was about him that seemed to put him apart from everyone else.

She continued to think about it as she went through the day. The lightning bolt scar on his forehead was something that made him stand out, but how she could identify that with the name, she couldn't guess. And she was sure there was something else about him. Shaking her head in frustration, Ginny glanced through her potions book before going to sleep, letting her mind simmer over the information inside.


	5. Chapter Four

Ginny's first term passed much the same. By the time the exams came, she was the best out of everyone. 100% in every exam, she had no reason to worry about her parents being displeased. She had given up trying to figure out how everything worked. After her first day of classes she had been taken to the near by town, to purchase a wand.

Nine and a half inches of willow with a core of unicorn tail, Ginny's wand was beautiful and slim. She guessed that there must be something in the wand which produced reactions to all sort of things, in the right situations. She decided that the idea of magic must be some advanced science which she couldn't hope yet to explain.

By the time the first holiday came up, Ginny was excited to be going home to her family. Dressed warmly in some of the clothes provided by Professor Dumbledore, Ginny packed her suitcase, deciding to leave her trunk filled with everything she had for Hogwarts in her lonely room.

Ginny pulled her suitcase behind her as she made her way to the Entrance Hall, where everyone was milling around, waiting for the train to arrive and to be taken down there to go home for the holidays.

At ten thirty, half an hour before the train was due, Professor Dumbledore found her in the crowd, sitting in a corner with her nose in a grade five spell book. Nearly the only time Ginny had interacted with students other than where she had to during lessons, was to borrow more advanced books from older students, which she had been reading during the times she hadn't been perfecting an assignment.

He began by asking her how she'd enjoyed Hogwarts for her first term, and Ginny replied honestly to each question.

"I'm afraid you can't go back to the Lee family." Ginny looked up from the middle of answering a question about how difficult she was finding the work, and looked into Dumbledore's eyes. The light blue was solemn behind his half moon spectacles.

"I'm sorry?" She said, not sure that she had heard him correctly, certainly hoping that she hadn't.

"You can't go back to the Lee family. After you arrived at Hogwarts, I went to explain to them your peculiar situation. I was fairly sure I'd be able to convince them otherwise, but they have decided… well, no use mincing words I suppose. They have decided to disown you."

At that point, Ginny ran. She ran to the dungeons, cried out the password, ran through the common rooms, and up to her room. Ginny kicked her trunk in frustration, ignoring the stabbing pain she suddenly felt in her toe.

Throwing herself on her bed, Ginny let the tears out that she wouldn't dare show in public. She had been disowned by the only family she had ever known.

A week passed, where older girls tried to convince her to come out, but she remained in her bed, her door locked with magic, and a chest shoved in front of that.

On Christmas morning she awoke to a small pile of presents at the foot of her bed. More than a little surprised, Ginny took the smallest one, on top, and opened it.

"_Dear Ginny, keep up the good work, here's for everything you've done in class._" It was a small heart shaped locket, with a picture of Gildory Lockhart, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher inside it.

Rolling her eyes, as she'd never been a fan of that particular teacher, she pushed the silver locket aside and opened the next present.

"_Ginny, for all the good work you've done in class._" Ginny glanced in the box and saw a small bottle of golden liquid. She didn't need to read the label to know that it was Felix Felices, liquid luck. A gift from Professor Snape.

She went through the rest of the presents, finding most of them contained books about advanced magic, which she knew even seventh years wouldn't be reading. From Professor McGonagall she had a book about how to become an Animagus.

Putting her new books on the bookshelf in her room, joining her grade one books, Ginny was about to face the world once more, when she saw another two gifts, which she had accidentally pushed to the floor.

The first was a gift from Dumbledore. A Lightning Strike broomstick. Having read about broomsticks, she knew that this was the fastest one possible to make. It had the smoothest steering ability, and just looking at it she saw it was so beautiful there was no way she could ever let go of it.

The second gift she picked up from the floor was another book. Ginny gasped when she saw it. It had been under her pillow after her first day of school. A blank book which was like a journal. Inside she had found someone who she could talk to, but then things had begun to happen. Ginny had tried to throw the book away, but here it was, returned to her. Shaking slightly, Ginny made her way to breakfast.

As she made her way down the marble staircase to the Entrance hall, a boy came running up behind her, and ran right into her, sending her flying down the stairs.

Before she reached the bottom, where she would have landed head first into the floor, she stopped in midair, and rose gently until she was vertical, and just a few inches from the floor, when the invisible force holding her stopped, and she dropped.

Looking around, Ginny saw Draco at the door to the Great hall, wand pointed at her, where he had cast a floating charm on her, but glaring up the steps where Harry Potter was in a crumpled heap where he had unbalanced by running into Ginny.

The look on Draco's face glaring at Harry scared Ginny for a moment. The hatred in those clear grey eyes was apparent. Unsure of what to do, she was saved the worry of thinking about it as the second year she had learned was Ron Weasley came running up to his friend Harry, and helped him up. Ron shot a dirty look at Draco, who's wand had by now pointed at Harry, and Ginny saw immediately what Ron thought must have happened.

Before she could try to explain how Draco had probably saved her life, Ron and Harry had fast made their ways inside the Great Hall. Glancing quickly at Draco, Ginny followed them in, thinking.

There was no way that what had just happened could be science. Her falling head first into the floor, and someone stopping her completely. It was impossible.

"Good to see you out and about again, Ginny." Daphne Clearwater, a second year Slytherin said as she passed Ginny.

* * *

The rest of Ginny's first year passed much the same. She excelled in all of her subjects. By the Easter holidays she had finished all the text books up to seventh year. She had been fascinated by the book on becoming an animagus, and had begun spending most of her free time writing in the diary about it.

She knew all the theory, she was ready to try it. All she needed was an animal she was compatible with. She had asked the person in the diary, Tom, who always seemed to be there when she needed him, to help her, but he hadn't been any help in that regards at all.

There were times Ginny woke up with no idea what had happened the night before, despite her perfect memory. These mornings were usually followed by days where someone was discovered to have been petrified.

Ginny was shocked at everyone being petrified, and she was scared of being next. She had to be a muggleborn, after all, right?

Ginny confided her fear about this to Tom, and he came up with an excellent solution. Ginny had no clue what she was doing as she opened the chamber of secrets for the last time. She slid down the pipes, landing on the same pile of bones which had broken her landings the previous times.

She didn't know what she was doing as she worked her way through the pipes to the great chamber. She collapsed on the floor, feeling weak, as she came to her senses, and couldn't figure out where she was. Though she tried to get up, she was helpless. Something was draining her. She blacked out.

Before she knew what had really happened, Ginny was suddenly awake again, and Harry was there, his hand on hers, shaking her, waking her. Ron Weasley was there as well. And Professor Lockhart was going on about how dreadful the place looked.

"You're Ginny, right?" Harry asked, helping her stand up. Ginny nodded, still feeling weak despite herself. She didn't know what had happened exactly, but one thing she knew for sure. Harry was her hero. He had saved her.

She saw the book she had been writing in then, and a huge serpent lying dead behind her. Her eyes went wide, and Harry wrapped his arm around her waist, telling Ron to hold on to him and to Lockhart. With his spare hand, Harry grabbed the leg of a bright red bird Ginny hadn't had time yet to notice. The beautiful creature tilted it's head as it looked at her, and when Ron was holding on to Harry, Ginny felt her feet leaving the ground as the bird flew up into the sky, carrying them all.

Ginny passed out again in Harry's arms in the air, and when she came to once more, she was in the hospital wing. She spent a few days there, before she was allowed to go out, with all the people who had been petrified, to the end of year feast.

Ginny saw Dumbledore smiling down on everyone, and Harry wrapped himself around the large man, Hagrid. It wasn't until after the feast, when she made her way to the Slytherin common room, that she began to think about the next day. She didn't know what she was supposed to do. Surely she couldn't stay in Hogwarts over the Summer.

But that had all been sorted for her.

On her pillow, in Dumbledore's cursive handwriting, Ginny found a note explaining that the Malfoys were expecting her the next day, so she could travel home with Draco.

* * *

**A/N: **To **Allen Pitt**: A lot of things you asked about will be cleared up in later chapters, but one reason why Draco is sure she's a pureblood is because she's in Slytherin, the elitist house.

If Arthur had known who she was he would have just taken her to the Burrow. No. Nearly no one knows who she is, and even those people are really just guessing.

Molly wouldn't know she's going to Hogwarts for sure. She had never been able to find out who had adopted her daughter, so she hasn't been able to keep tabs on Ginny. For all she knows, Ginny could be in France, attending Beaxbatons.

And that generally is the first impression for people on hearing about Hufflepuff. I mean, "Said Hufflepuff, I'll take the rest", basically is saying Hufflepuff is where everyone else goes.

Hope that's cleared a couple of things up for you, and hope everything else makes sense in a couple of chapters time ^^

Also for **writeyourlove**: Ginny isn't the only Slytherin girl. She's the only girl first year in Slytherin. It's just something that happened. In the rest of the houses there are more first year girls than most other year girls.


	6. Chapter Five

Ginny sat in a compartment with some people from her own house. Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Blaise Zabini, and the only other girl in the compartment was Pansy Parkinson.

"It's not like we're trying to kidnap you, you know. You're welcome to stay with another family if you want." Draco said, sitting right next to her. Ginny had noticed Pansy glaring at her a few times, but hadn't understood why. They were just half an hour away from Kings Cross Station by now, and Draco had been trying to fill her in a bit on his family, while she was taking her tenth quiz in the back of the animagus book, trying to figure out what animal she might be like.

So far none of the quizzes had given her a result. She had to admit though, she did quite like the way the back of the book was set up. With each quiz you tapped your wand against the answer you chose, and the next question would pop up, and so on, until you reached the end and it gave you a result, or lack thereof.

So far Ginny had discovered that she wasn't any sort of underground animal. She wasn't a grazing animal. She couldn't be a swimming animal. It was all very annoying.

"It's not like she's paying any attention to you." Pansy said, from the other seat. "Are you quite sure she's not deaf? Or mute?" She scowled at Ginny, her face, not the prettiest in the bundle, growing even worse.

"Quite." Draco responded, barely giving her a glance. "We've got a huge library you can visit any time you want." He said, which was probably the best thing Ginny had heard this whole trip.

The lunch trolley came past, and Ginny bought a couple of pumpkin pasties, biting into one as she got her tenth no result. The eleventh quiz was about beetles and bugs, and though she was tempted to skip it, Ginny really wanted to find a compatibility.

She had her eleventh and twelfth quizzes ending in a no result by the time the scarlet engine arrived at Kings Cross. She wasn't surprised to find that there was a huge arch in the middle of the wall which was their way out.

"Come on, I can just see Mum over there. Here, give me your trunk." Draco said, and took Ginny's trunk from her, leaving her with only her small suitcase, as he led her over to the austere looking blonde woman who he had spotted.

Wearing all black, Narcissa Malfoy looked like a blonde siren. Her dress was low cut, and high hemmed, barely covering all of her important bits. Ginny was shocked to see how much tanned skin was being shown by the woman.

The simple high heels Narcissa wore made her seem extra tall to short Ginny who looked up into her cold grey eyes.

Narcissa was studying Ginny just as much. From her dark brown hair, to her strange, violet eyes. Her pale skin, and the green hoodie she was wearing over her silver coloured skinny jeans.

"You must be Ginevra." Narcissa said, holding out a perfectly manicured hand. "I'm Narcissa Malfoy. Pleasure to meet you." Ginny took the hand and gave it a polite shake, looking directly into Narcissa's cold grey eyes. She noticed how they softened and warmed the moment they saw Draco, and she instinctively edged slightly closer to the boy.

This didn't go unnoticed for Draco, who hid a small smile.

Ginny followed the two of them out of Platform nine and three quarters, onto platform nine, and then out of the train station. Narcissa took them both to a sleek black car waiting outside. A man dressed all in black efficiently took their luggage, loading it into the boot of the car while another one opened the door for them to enter. Narcissa watched as Draco and Ginny entered, before turning sharply on the spot and apparating out, apparently not wanting to ride with the two children.

Ginny watched her as she apparated, and turned to Draco to ask how she did that.

"It's called apparation. A witch or wizard thinks of somewhere, turns sharply, and goes there. If you weren't here, Mum would have probably side along apparated me, but she can't do it with two people."

"Oh, if I'm being a bother I could always go somewhere else..." Ginny said, feeling like she was already putting the Malfoy family out.

"Of course not! You'd be a bother at this point to go somewhere else." Draco said strongly.

"Well, if you're sure." Ginny said.

"Of course I'm sure." Draco said. Ginny was staring out of the window at t he scenery going past while Draco was busy staring at the way her hair looked in the sun.

Ginny confused him sometimes. It was like she was two different people. There was the Ginny everyone saw, with her straight dark brown hair and violet eyes, pretty, but not something you'd particularly look twice at when she got older.

The other Ginny, Draco knew was going to be a stunner when she grew into herself. The Ginny only he saw had hair the colour of flames, cascading down her back in beautiful, wild curls. When the sun hit it right, as it did now, her hair looked like it was being consumed by flames.

The violet eyes were brighter, far more vivid, standing stark against her delicately pale skin.

"We can go swimming when we get home, if you like." He said. Ginny looked across at him.

"I haven't any swimmers." She pointed out. Draco chuckled.

"We can get you a pair."

"I wouldn't want to put you out. You're being far too nice to me already." Ginny said, looking down. She barely even knew Draco yet. She remembered falling down the stairs, and him saving her life, but she didn't really know any more about him than that he was a pureblood, and that his family was incredibly rich.

Draco laughed so hard Ginny was worried that he couldn't breathe properly for a moment. When he finally calmed down, taking a few deep breathes in, he just looked at her.

"You really needn't worry about putting us out." He said, shaking his head. "We've got more money than we really know what to do with. I'm sure my parents won't mind buying you a few things as you need them." He pointed out. Ginny sighed, and they traveled the rest of the journey together in silence.

"We're here." The first words Draco said, and that was only when they pulled up outside a luxurious mansion.

"Wow, you really do have more money than you know what to do with." She said, as she saw the state of the perfect, pristine mansion. It was far larger than any house she had ever seen. There were peacocks grazing neatly in the front garden, which was immaculate. The hedges they were driving through were taller than three men, and Ginny couldn't see anything past them. When they finally reached the end of the driveway, Draco got out first, as one of the men dressed all in black waved his wand and the trunks in the car, along with Ginny's little suitcase which held all of her old life, went soaring into the air and into the mansion.

* * *

Ginny spent most of her summer in the huge library of the Malfoy's. Larger than the Hogwarts library, this private library took up an entire floor of space, and was labyrinth like in its hallways of books. Ginny had fallen in love with the room, and by the end of the summer she had glanced through all of the books, broadening her knowledge immensely.

Every night after dinner was the only time the library was out of bounds, to both Ginny and Draco, so Ginny spent this time with Draco, who took her horse riding, and swimming. He lost her in the maze one night, when he made a wrong turn. He spent ages trying to find her, and when he finally did, she had been waiting in the centre of the maze for over an hour for him to find her, having found her way through with ease.

Finally the day came when they had to go back to Hogwarts. Draco for his third year, Ginny for her second. Lucius, who only ever appeared at meal times, and even then rarely, let them both come up to the library after dinner for their last night, and spent an hour talking to Draco about his grades, before turning to talk to Ginny about the same. He seemed astonished when he learned that she was excelling fantastically in all of her classes.

The next day Ginny sat next to Draco in the Slytherin compartment on the Hogwarts express once more. When they were halfway to Hogwarts the train stopped, and despite herself, Ginny moved closer to Draco on the seat, earning herself a glare from Pansy, as usual sitting across from them.

When the train moved on again, Ginny returned to quizzing herself. She had almost reached the end of the quizzes. There was only one more, and she would have covered every type of animal imaginable.

"Maybe you're compatible with a magical creature." Draco said under his breath as he led her over to the waiting carriages. Ginny looked up at him, but said nothing, thinking about it.

The feast was more or less the same as last year, more students were sorted into Slytherin, and sat at their table. Halfway through the feast itself there was a commotion around the door and Harry Potter and Hermione Granger came in. Ginny watched them, before lowering her eyes to her desert.

* * *

**A/N**: Next chappie should be up soon.


	7. Chapter Six

Ginny was in the centre of the maze on the Malfoy mansion on her fifteenth birthday. The Malfoy's were in Paris for the day, where Draco hadn't managed to persuade her to come. Over the years she'd grown attached to him. She was delighted now, to spend her summers at his house, where Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy now treated her as a member of the family, much as they would if she were their own daughter.

Narcissa's favourite thing to do was to take Ginny out to boutiques and buy her fabulous dresses that Ginny knew she would never get the chance to wear. Starting from when she was thirteen, Narcissa began holding balls at the mansion every Friday night, where she got Ginny to parade her dresses, much to Ginny's distaste.

Lucius showed her every single new book he bought for their library, which she devoured eagerly, leaving no subject unread. Now and then, like today, the Malfoys traveled overseas. Usually Ginny used this time alone in the mansion to explore.

In her second summer there, she found Lucius's secret library. Hidden very well behind the actual library, Ginny devoured these books quickly, learning why they were kept away. Though she knew she really shouldn't read books about dark magic, Ginny couldn't help herself. And Lucius never knew she had been in his secret library.

But now Ginny was there for a different reason. It had been four years since she had heard anything from her family. This morning, and she had no idea how it happened to come about, but an owl was sitting outside the window of the room she always slept in at the mansion.

Tied to its leg was a small parcel.

Ginny opened the parcel now. The moment she had seen her name written on the outside, in that familiar scribble which her brother had called handwriting, her heart had almost stopped beating.

Checking despite herself to make sure that she was alone, and that none of the weird creatures known as house elves were around, Ginny opened the box which had been wrapped up in brown paper and addressed to her.

Inside was an envelope, and several stacks of pictures. Ginny decided to look at the pictures first. Her family, happy together, without her. They didn't seem to miss her at all. There were pictures of holidays, pictures of just being at home, pictures of school.

Unlike wizarding pictures, these didn't move. But Ginny was glad of this. She had the feeling that, if these pictures were to move and to talk, they'd be very rude to her.

Finally, Ginny opened the thick envelope, and found heaps of letters inside.

_Ginny._

_ Mum and Dad were scared stiff when they found out you hadn't arrived at Crimson. Then this weird old guy came and told us you were a witch. Ginny, you aren't a witch, are you?_

_ Chris_

_Ginny,_

_ We miss you. Please come back. Mum says you're evil. But I can't believe you could be evil. Ginny, please come back. For me?_

_ Chris_

_Ginny,_

_ It's been a month now, and I miss you so much. Mum and Dad are beginning to act like you never existed. I keep on looking through old family albums just to prove you did._

_ Chris_

_Ginny,_

_ It's summer, and you're not here. I don't know what summer will be like without you there to brighten up our days. I tried talking about you last night, but Mum just ignored me and changed the subject, as if I had brought up low grades._

_ Chris_

_Ginny,_

_ Why do I keep writing you these letters? I keep on intending to post them to you, but then I realise I don't know how. Where are you living now? Where's this Hogwarts place? Ginny, I miss you. Please come back. For me. Life's not the same at the Lee house without you._

_ Chris_

_Ginny,_

_ Another year, another summer without you. I passed all my subjects at school! You'd be proud of it. I saw Mum crying over a picture of you last night. I guess you're not as dead to her as she tries to let on. I know you probably have heaps of witch friends, and probably have a new family, but you don't know how much I miss you._

_ Chris_

_Ginny,_

_ Another letter. I've written one every day since you've been gone. Why do I keep on writing them? I know I'll never send any of them. _

_ Chris_

_Ginny,_

_ Mum found my collection of letters yesterday. I came home, and she was halfway through reading them. I dont know what to think. She was crying, and when she saw me standing in the doorway, she stopped, and just left them there on my bed. I was worried fr so long about her finding out about them, but I never expected this to be her reaction. _

_ Chris_

_Ginny,_

_ I have a girlfriend! Her name is Michelle, and she's really sweet. I just know you'd love her! She has the most amazing clear blue eyes, and jet black hair. Ginny, have you got a boyfriend? Do you have someone who you really love, as much as I love Michelle?_

_ Chris_

_Ginny,_

_ A letter arrived yesterday. I don't know who sent it. But you'll never believe it! It was delivered by an owl. An owl! Can you believe it? It came hooting at my window in the night. _

_ Chris_

_To Christopher,_

_ I have heard all about you by now, though you'll know nothing of me. Your sister loves you, and misses you and your family more than you could ever imagine. From what Ginny told me, I thought you'd be the best person to write to. The most likely to brighten up her day. If you do still love your sister, send her something with this owl. Nothing too large, she can't carry really heavy loads. If you don't, then do what you want with the owl. Keep her, if you want, or send her out. If she comes back to me with nothing, I won't tell Ginny. There's no way I could break her heart like that._

_Please, though, send her some token of your affection._

_ A friend._

_Ginny,_

_ I don't know who this person is, but they gave me a way to talk to you. I chose some random letters. IL hope you don't mind. There are probably heaps more in there that are longer, and better worded. I made sure I didn't give you any ones I made illegible from crying!_

_ Sometimes here we miss you more than other times. I know that I wish, every night, that you could be here to talk to. I thought about telling one of the others that I was writing to you, but I decided against it. I'm glad you remember us. And from what your friend says, it sounds like you miss us too._

_ Please talk to us, Ginny. We all miss you. _

_ Chris_

Ginny had been crying silently as she read through all these letters. Short as they may be, they were too the point. Just like the Christopher she used to know so well.

It seemed strange to her that this would arrive on her birthday, but she knew it could be nothing more than a coincidence.

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Ginny made her way back up to the mansion. In her room, she took out a piece of parchment and a quill.

_Chris,_

_ I miss you too! You have no idea how much! When first I came here I was so sure there was no such thing as magic. I tried, and I tried to explain everything scientifically. But it couldn't work out! There was no way some of the things we had to do could be explained with science._

_ Then I was so worried for my soul. You should have seen me. I got a 99% on a test I should have got 100% on, purely because I was so worried about my soul. But then Professor Dumbledore told me that I can't help who I am._

_ I'm really glad you miss me. I mean, I'm sad you miss me, but I'm glad too. At least I know you care. I thought you all hated me. I promise you I'm not evil! I would never go against the bible. I really wish I could bring you all here, and show you my world for a time._

_ Heh. I'm coming to think of it as my world. Well, I guess it is. It's the world I belong in, whcih I guess means I can't belong in your world. I'm nearly in my fifth year now. I'm so excited! One of my Professors has even promised to show me how to turn into an animal. I already know how, but she's promised to help me find the animal I can turn into. You have no idea how long I've been waiting to try this!_

_ Imagine how amazing that could be. I could turn into a cat, for example, and wander around the world in the body of a cat for a while. _

_ It's too late in the holidays now to come visit you, but do you think you could persuade Mum and Dad to let me come home for Christmas? Please, Chris?_

_ Ginny_

**A/N:** I have the bug. The writing bug. Expect more soon.


	8. Chapter Seven

As soon as Draco came home from France with his parents, Ginny surprisedthe older boy by wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tightly. She had recognised his handwriting on the note Chris had included in the bundle. Draco smiled, and hugged her back, happy to feel her body in his arms.

Narcissa stood nearby and smiled. She knew the candle that Draco held for the small brown haired girl, and she was glad, at last, that Ginny seemed to be returning some of his affection.

At dinner that night, Narcissa watched Ginny closely. Afterwards, when Draco headed up to the library to talk to his father about what classes he was going to take this year, Narcissa invited Ginny into the lounge for a cup of tea.

"Best let them to their boy talk." She said, and Ginny nodded, sitting across from her in the comfortable arm chair. She had been in the lounge a few times since her first Summer at the Malfoy's, always with Narcissa after dinner, usually on the night before school, while Draco was talking to Lucius.

It had become apparent to Lucius after Ginny's second year that there was no way she could do anything other than excell at school, so he didn't bother talking to her about how she was going any more.

"So how do you feel about Draco?" The question threw Ginny completely off guard. Narcissa usually used this time to talk to Ginny about balls that she was going to hold the next year.

"Umm. I don't know. I mean, he's a really great guy. He's like a brother to me." Ginny said, not sure what Narcissa wanted her to say.

"Hmmm..." Narcissa was studying Ginny now. She took in her dark brown hair, her pale skin, her pale violet eyes.

"What?" Ginny asked, her eyes going wide.

"Ginny, I'm sure you can't be unaware of how my son feels about you." Narcissa said, her eyebrows furrowed as she studied the girl before her.

"What do you mean how he feels about me?" Ginny asked.

"You don't know?" Narcissa was astonished. It was painfully obvious to her how deeply her son felt for the young girl she treated like a daughter of her own. "Ginny, Draco loves you." If Ginny's eyes were wide before, it was nothing to how wide they went now, with this admission by the proud woman Ginny knew Narcissa to be.

"He loves me?" She asked, her voice soft. She thought about how Draco was always there for her. How he had sent something to Chris, just to try and cheer her up. She thought about the way he looked at her, as if he were looking at the most beautiful girl in the world. She thought about the way his eyes seemed to look right into her soul.

"Ginny, I love you. You're a wonderful girl, you truly are. And I love you as if you were more own daughter, you know that, but I have to tell you, if you break my sons heart, I will hunt you to the ends of the Earth." Her grey eyes flashed slightly as she said that.

"I could never break his heart." Ginny said, looking at her hands. "I- I think I love him, too." It took a lot for Ginny to admit this. She had never felt that way about anyone before. She was scared, despite herself, that she felt that way about him.

"Would you look at the time. I guess you should be heading off to bed, so you aren't too tired to go back to school tomorrow." Narcissa said, jumping up quickly. Ginny followed as Narcissa led her to her room. Slipping inside, Ginny sighed as she lay down on her bed. She loved Draco. She finally admitted it to herself. Four years of him being there for her, of him looking after her. Saving her life when Harry had run into her.

When the Weasley twins had managed to get fireworks into her room which went off in the middle of the night, Draco had been there the moment she screamed. Though she didn't know how he managed to get in with the winding stair case turning into a slide, Ginny didn't really mind. She had been glad he had been there for her. She was even happier when they left Hogwarts.

Sleeping fitfully, Ginny glanced at her trunk every time she woke up. She decided to herself that she'd tell him tomorrow. Now that she knew herself, she had to tell him as soon as she could.

Waking up tired the next morning, Ginny walked down to breakfast, glancing up at Draco through the veil of her hair every now and then. She wasn't surprised to see that he was glancing at her almost as much.

Ginny sat next to Draco in the prefects compartment. Pansy was sitting on his other side, and the other fifth year prefect for Slytherin, Philip Clearwater. Ginny looked at the other house's prefects, but wasn't really bothered with any of them. When they received their schedule for patrolling the corridors, Ginny and Draco left, with Pansy tagging behind, to go to the Slytherin compartment.

"Ginny Lee?" Ginny looked at the face of a small first year.

"Yes?"

"Professor Slughorn would like to see you in his compartment in an hour." The first year said quickly, with wide eyes, before running off. Raising an eyebrow, Ginny shrugged.

"Looks like even the teacher who's just started adores you." Pansy said, her voice dripping with hate. Ginny glanced at her before glancing away.

"Draco, could I have a quick word with you?" Ginny asked as they reached the compartment and the three of them were about to go in. "Alone?" She glanced at Pansy. Draco, gathering her meaning, gestured for Pansy to go inside. Though she loathed to leave the two alone, Pansy didn't want to ruin her non-existant chances with Draco, so quickly went inside, though her eyes stayed trained on the glass part of the door.

"Let's go for a bit of a walk." Draco suggested, and he led Ginny up the empty corridor. "So, what did you want to talk about?" Draco asked.

Ginny looked up at him, and without a second thought she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his head down to kiss him softly on the lips. Draco was stunned into silence. After staring into Ginny's vivid violet eyes for a moment, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back. They stood there in each others arms for a few minutes, their lips locked, unable to pull away from each other.

"I love you." Ginny said, when Draco finally pulled away, and smiling, Draco whispered those words back into her ear, sending tingles down Ginny's spine.

**A/N:** Depending on how quick I can write I should have the next chapter up soon :3


	9. Chapter Eight

When they finally made their way back to the Slytherin compartment, where Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise, and Pansy were waiting for them, Draco slipped his arm over Ginny's shoulders, holding her close to him as they walked in to stunned looks.

If looks could kill, Ginny would have been dead by Pansy's glare right then, but she was the only one who was paying attention to Draco's arm around her. Everyone else was staring at her hair.

Where they had just seen her with dark brown hair flowing straight down her back, now they saw wild red curls shimmering in the light as if flames engulfed her pale head.

Ginny's violet eyes were more vivid than ever, and her skin seemed even paler. Ginny pressed herself against Draco, guessing that their stares weren't to do with him. What were they looking at? Seeing their glances at her hair, Ginny grabbed a lock and looked at it, screaming as she saw the bright red.

How could that happen? What had happened? Her hair was suddenly as red as the Weasley's, and curlier than she could everhave imagined her hair being.

"Draco, what's happening?" She asked, her voice wavering slightly. Draco looked at Ginny, wondering what she was talking about. Looking at her, he saw her as he always had, as the beautiful red haired maiden. Frowning, he let his eyes unfocus, the way he had found out he could see her the way everyone else seemed to. But she was just the same red haired maiden. Draco's mouth opened, trying to find some explanation for it, but with nothing coming to mind, he shut his mouth just as quickly. Tears were welling in Ginny's eyes. She had no idea how it had happened. Ginny backed out of the compartment and ran to the nearest bathroom.

While Ginny was investigating her new looks, Draco turned to the others. The look on his face was murderous, and even Pansy, who would have done anything to make Ginny miserable right then, thought better of it.

"What happened?" Blaise asked in a soft voice. Draco shrugged, though he was beginning to get an idea.

Draco waitd a few minutes, before heading out into the hallway. Pansy followed him, it being their turn now to patrol the corridor, though that was far from Draco's mind.

Pansy practically clung to Draco as he searched for Ginny. She delighted in taking points from Gryffindor for the slightest thing she found they were doing wrong. She told a couple of second year Gryffindors off for playing exploding snap in the corridor, where they could distract people.

Draco finally found Ginny in the girls bathroom. Though he shouldn't be in there, he went in anyway, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her forehead. He could tell she had been crying, her violet eyes rimmed red.

"It's alright." He whispered against her forehead. "It wll all be alright." Draco's voice soothed Ginny, despite herself, she began to calm down, resting her forehead against Draco's chest, feeling comforted by being in his arms. "I promise I'll figure out what happened. Until then, just know that you're beautiful." Kissing Ginny's forehead again, Draco took her hand, and led her outside. People stared. Most of them knew Ginny by now. The honour student, the one who never put a foot wrong. They were used to her peculiar violet eyes by now, and her quietness.

But none of them had seen such a transformation before. From straight dark brown hair, and pale eyes. Ginny had changed drastically for her hair to now appear like flames.

Ginny took a deep breath, and listened to Draco's calm voice in her ear, telling her that she was the same person as ever. They reached the compartment Slughorn was in, and Draco let her go, telling her to go and make a good impression.

Ginny smiled weakly at this as she stepped into the compartment.

"Who are you?" A rather large man, the only occupent of the compartment looked at her. "Did I send for you?" Ginny nodded.

"I'm Ginny Lee." She said, and the man's eyes widened in comprehension.

"Of course! Ginny Lee! I've heard so much about you by my fellow teachers. Come, sit down." Without standing up, Professor Slughorn pulled Ginny to sit in the seat right next to him. Unlike in the other compartments, this one had a huge table in the centre, which was laden with food for lunch. "The other lunch guests should be arriving shortly." He said.

He wasn't wrong. Blaise was the first one in, sitting next to Ginny. He smiled at her, telling her silently that everything was alright, and she was soothed that there would be someone she knew there.

Several other people came in, Ginny realised they were all related to famous people in some way, except for Harry Potter who seemed to be there for his own fame. She noticed everyone who came in stared at her hair, before looking away. Harry was different. He stared at her hair frowning.

When they were finally allowed to leave, Ginny had Harry's arm on her shoulder, keeping her from walking away. When Blaise paused, waiting for her, she gestured for him to go on.

"Ginny, right?" Harry asked, and Ginny nodded. "I like your hair. I mean, not that your old hair wasn't nice. It was. I just mean... Uh, why did you dye your hair that colour?" He asked. Ginny looked up at him, studying his eyes, and guessed that he really did want to know.

"I didn't. I don't know what happened. It just changed." She said, looking away from his unsettling green eyes. They seemed to pierce her violet ones. Harry continued staring at her hair. It was the exact same shade as his best friend, Ron's, and all of his siblings. And now he thought about it, there was something Ron had mentioned ot him once, that made him look twice at Ginny.

"Um, I hope you don't mind me asking but, uhh, were you, um, adopted?" Harry asked. Ginny looked up at him again. She knew that Harry spent an awful lot of time with Dumbledore, but she was sure that Dumbledore wouldn't have broken her trust like that. Nodding silently at him, Harry's eyes went wide, before he looked away.

"Why do you ask?" She said, but before Harry could explain, Ron and Hermione came up, it being their turn to patrol the corridor.

"It's yours and Philip's turn, Ginny." Hermione said kindly, before the two of them glanced at Harry, as if wondering what he was doing talking to a Slytherin.

Both Hermione and Ron glanced at her hair, but didn't think about it. Thankful that they didn't ask any questions, Ginny quickly walked away, without saying goodbye to Harry. Philip was waiting for her at the end of the corridor, and they started their patrol. When she passed the Slytherin compartment, she smiled at Draco, who smiled back, and she felt as if with his help she could battle anything.

When she was finished patrolling the corridors, she slipped into the compartment and Draco pulled her onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her waist to pull him close to her, and kissing her cheek. Blushing, Ginny leaned against him.

"What did Potter want?" Blaise asked, sitting next to Draco.

Ginny shrugged. "Wanted to know why I dyed my hair this colour." She said.

"Why did you?" Pansy asked, glaring at Ginny.

"I didn't." Ginny said, and sighed, slipping off of Draco's lap, to sit beside him. The lunch trolley came past, and Ginny bought a box of Bertie Botts every flavour beans. When the lunch trolley passed on, Goyle decided he wanted more chocolate frogs than he had bought, and slipped out to chase it down.

When he came back in and closed the door, it didn't seem to want to close. Frowning, Goyle tried harder, but it wouldn't budge. Looking at the space between the door and the wall, Goyle couldn't figure out what was wrong. The door flew open suddenly, and then when Goyle tried to close it, it closed properly. Shrugging it off, Goyle sat down with his extra chocolate frogs.

"Ouch." Blaise said, looking at Goyle as Goyle walked past him. "Don't hit me!" He growled.

"I didn't hit you!" Goyle grunted, but after a glare from Blaise he just shrugged, and the both of them let it go. Draco glanced up at trunks, where they were stored above their heads. For a second he thought he had seen a flash of white right above Blaise's head.

When the train arrived at Hogwarts, everyone was already in their school robes. "Go ahead, I'll catch up." Draco whispered in Ginny's ear, before closing the compartment door when everyone left. Ginny didn't have to wait long. After a few minutes, Draco caught up, and they caught a carriage together up to the school, and though he wouldn't tell her what he did, Draco had a smug grin on his face.

**A/N:** And now Ginny's a redhead... :D


	10. Chapter Nine

Ginny was glad to get back to her lonely room when the feast was over. She had gotten over the stares of other students rather quickly. Not to mention, whenever she looked up it seemed to be into the green eyes of Harry Potter, who had arrived halfway through the feast with half of his face covered with what looked like blood.

When Ginny had laid down in her bed, feeling like Christmas, with her red hair, and her green nightgown, an owl hooted softly at her window, calling her attention to it. When she let the owl in, she recognised it immediately. The note tied to its foot was in the familiar handwriting of her brother, and Ginny was ecstatic to read that Christopher had talked to his parents, and Ginny could come for Christmas.

Ginny woke up the next morning, and had forgotten all about her newly red hair until she went into the bathroom. She stared at the mirror uncomprehensibly for a few seconds, before realising that the red hair was her own.

"I look like freaking Christmas." She remarked to herself, as she had last night. She got changed out of her nightgown, and into her school uniform, the green and silver tie making her feel even more like the holiday she was soon going to be celebrating with her family.

Ginny's mood was high through the entire day. Not only did she excell when she arrived in her potions class, she finished the potion in record time. When it came for her to go to Defense Against the Dark Arts, she was glad to see Professor Snape, no doubt her favourite teacher. After the class, he asked her to stay back.

"Ginny, Professor Dumbledore would like to see you after your last lesson today." He told her. Ginny thanked him for telling her, and went off. She hadn't seen much of Dumbledore since her first year at Hogwarts. The only communication they had had at all, was when he sent the requirement list for each year.

When Ginny left transfiguration, she considered going to see Draco quickly, but then she decided that if Dumbledore wanted to see her, she should probably try not to be late.

"Mulberry Praline." She said when she reached the gargoyle guarding his office. All prefects knew the password to Dumbledore's study, and were told whenever it was changed.

"Ah, Ginny, I'm glad you came." Dumbledore smiled at her from behind his desk, once she had stepped off of the revolving staircase. "Take a seat."

"Thank you." Ginny said politely as she sat down. Dumbledore studied her for a few moments, and Ginny had the feeling his blue eyes were taking in more than her newly red hair. She noticed his hand, charred and burned, and wondered what enchantment must have backfired. Surely Madame Pomfrey would have been able to take care of anything unless it was cursed.

"I brought you up here, Ginny, for two reasons. The first reason, is that you seem to be bored in most of your classes. Indeed, many of your teachers believe you would be bored in their seventh year classes. As such, I believe you need a more challenging schedule. Now, seeing as we've never had a student of such dedication and talent here at Hogwarts before, I've spent the last few years trying to think of something that can benefit you.

"I'm afraid I cannot merely place you in a higher grade. Firstly, though I am sure you will do Outstanding in all of your O.W.L.s, I cannot just assume something, and place you in your sixth year. Secondly, I feel you'd be as bored with that grade as you are with your own.

"So I have come up wtih something unique, that I'm sure you'll find challenging. Your teachers will keep you updated on all assignments, homework, and exams, which you will complete, on time. Apart from that, you are to be given a special schedule. You have the intelligence of someone much older and wiser. As such, you should be given a near college schedule. As you are too young to be sent to college, and you have not completed your O.W.L.'s or N.E.W.T.'s, I shall simply have to do the best with what I've got.

"You'll be starting this schedule next week. You shall receive your timetable at breakfast on Friday, and you are expected to follow it to the word. Some of your teachers will be Professors from Hogwarts. Others will be students who have excelled in personal areas. All in all, you will be taught extremely difficult magic, which I hope will challenge you much more than the lessons you are studying now."

Ginny's eyes were wide. She couldn't believe it. She knew what Dumbledore wasn't saying. The reason why this magic wasn't taught in classes, was because it was far too dangerous. If it wasn't even taught to seventh years...

"Now, the second reason I've asked you to come up here, is also the reason why you'll be starting this schedule next week, instead of tomorrow." Dumbledore said. Ginny raised an eyebrow, wondering what he was going on about, when he raised a hand, and gestured to someone behind Ginny.

Ginny spun around, and saw a small, rather round woman, with curling red hair, so similar to her own. Molly Weasley's chocolate brown eyes, studying her own shocking violet ones, seemed familiar, as if a fuzzy memory from a dream she had once had.

"Ginny?" Molly's voice was soft, unsure, as she looked at the girl she was sure was her daughter. The eyes were the same shocking violet she remembered, from before she had cast the spell to ensure her safety, her hair the same wild red curls. The last time she had seen the girl was when she had been a sixth month old baby, and she had placed her in the care of an orphanage, to give to a good family.

"Mum?" Ginny couldn't say how she remembered her, but she did. She remembered being held in the woman's loving arms, having songs softly sung to her, as she was rocked gently to sleep. She remembered being placed carefully in a cradle, with a blanket that was far softer than anything anyone could imagine. She remembered those brown eyes, looking constantly into her own, showing her how much love was there.

Ginny can't remember standing up, but there she was, wrapped in Molly's loving arms, being held tight to the round woman. A few inches taller than the woman she knew now to be her real mother, Ginny held back her own tears. She wasn't one to be seen crying.

That night it all came out. The spell, to protect her. How it had been broken by her first kiss. Why it had happened, her mother being so afraid that in the desperate times, Ginny would be the one people would turn to.

"But I'm not." Ginny said quietly as her mother explained why she had given her up for adoption. "Harry's the hero. Everyone looks up to him." She said, and Molly smiled through her tears, nodding.

"But Harry hadn't defeated Voldemort when I was pregnant with you. It wasn't until after I had to leave, when I was locked far away from the wizarding world, without the slightest drop of news, when he defeated Voldemort. And by the time I came back, it was too late to reclaim you."

Molly blew her nose in her handkerchief. Her nose was red, her face blotchy, and her eyes, it seemed, all out of tears.

"Ginny, I'd like you to go meet your family, until Friday." Dumbledore said. "Everything has been arranged, your special schedule won't start until next week anyway, and the Weasley's are all anxious to meet the girl they never knew existed."

And so, Ginny left, with a small bag packed with enough clothes to last her until Friday, she walked with Molly to Hogsmeade, where they apparated out, and to the burrow.

**A/N: **Love the reviews guys! ^^ Hope you like this chapter. Next one should be up soonish. This one would be longer but the computer I was using yesterday died on me without the chance to save ;_;


	11. Chapter Ten

As soon as Ginny saw the Burrow she loved it. In a completely different way than how she loved the Malfoy Mansion, she saw it as something she wished she could have grown up in. Molly took her on a quick tour, showing her where each of her sons slept, Ron in the attic, Bill and Charlie, when they came, in the room that Ginny knew, unsaid, would have been hers had she grown up here.

Ginny was eager to help Molly prepare dinner. Just as Dumbledore had said, everything had been arranged, for Ginny's short few days to get to know her family before going back to school.

That night, it was just her, Molly and Arthur. None of them wanted to go to sleep, Molly and Arthur wanting to spend as much time with their new found daughter as much as possible, and Ginny not wanting to miss out on any of her short time with her family. She was almost sad now that she had organised to spend Christmas with her other family. Now she had met her real family, she felt like she wanted to spend as much time with them as possible, getting to know them.

Finally, Molly suggested they go to bed, so they can all go to Grimauld Place the next day. Before Molly had left with Ginny, Dumbledore had told her the secret. Ginny knew all about the fidelius charm by now.

The next day, when they woke up, they barely had time for breakfast before they apparated away to Grimauld place. Ginny was given a quick tour of the place, and where she would be sleeping. When they made their way to the kitchen, which seemed to be the cleanest, and in general nicest room in the house, there was a pop outside, and the sound of the door opening.

Everyone came slowly throughout the day to meet the youngest Weasley. Molly explained, each time someone new arrived, why Ginny had been raised in a muggle family the way she had.

When it came to dinner, the house was near bursting. Professor Lupin, from Ginny's second year was there. Along with a weird young woman, who had bright pink hair, and asked Ginny to call her Tonks. Professor Moody, from her third year was there, though he was nothing like he had been in her third year, which she found out was because at the time he had been locked in a trunk, while a fake moody had been teaching everyone.

Ginny met Bill Weasley, and his fiancé, Fleur, who insisted at once that Ginny be a bridesmaid at their wedding. She met Charlie Weasley, who lived in Romania, working with dragons. Harry, Ron, and Hermione came, and she saw them all with new eyes. Fred and George came, and they each gave her a large box of their merchandise, and apologised for the way they had treated her when they had just thought her another Slytherin.

It seemed like Friday came way too Quickly. Ginny spent her entire time, talking about how she had grown up. She learned briefly about all of her family, including the one who wasn't there, Percy, and why he wasn't there.

Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all went back to Hogwarts on Friday morning, with Ginny's name now on the Weasley clock, happily ticking away, and they arrived up at the castle for breakfast. Ginny gave her new found brother a hug, before leaving for the Slytherin table, where Draco was sitting, watching her carefully.

Ginny had just managed to find Draco before she had left on Monday night and explain everything to him. When everyone got up to go to their classes, Ginny waited for Professor Snape to hand her her timetable. Looking at it, she was due to meet with Professor McGonagall in the library for her first lesson on Mondays.

It didn't take Ginny long to figure out what she was going to be doing with Professor McGonagall.

"Okay, so you're sure there's absolutely no result from the quizzes in the book I gave you in your first year?" McGonagall barely waited for Ginny to enter the library before she questioned her. Ginny nodded, positive, and she frowned.

"Okay, in that case, do you know anything about a patronus charm? Often the patronus can be a clue to the animal you're linked to." Ginny had read all about the patronus charm in her first year. She had never summoned one before, but she knew what to do.

"_Expecto patronum._" She said, with a quick wave of her wand. A pure white figure appeared between the two of them, and McGonagall's eyes widened in disbelief. Madam Pince, the librarian, walked past, and gasped.

"What are you doing with that beast in here? It might eat the book! Minerva, get it out of here at once!" Madam Pince said, looking at the golden horn protruding from the otherwise plain white horse's head.

"Calm down, Irma. It's only a patronus." McGonagall said, waving her hands at the frantic librarian who had every right to worry. The unicorn appeared to be, in every way, shape, and form, real, which surprised McGonagall even more than the fact that Ginny had a magical creature as a patronus.

"I don't care. Get it out of here!" Ginny waved her wand again, calling her patronus back. McGonagall looked like she was about to feint.

"Are you alright Professor?" Ginny asked, pulling out a seat and leading the Transfiguration professor into it.

"I'll see you next week, Ginny. Feel free to take some time out before your next class." McGonagall said, her voice weak. Ginny nodded, and left, checking her timetable as she did. She was supposed to be with McGonagall for another hour, but she wasn't going to complain.

Seeing as she was excused, Ginny decided to take a few books out from the restricted section. Seeing as she had already read all of the books in the library, and she had been granted special access to it, she decided not to pass up the opportunity.

Ginny had a few books with her as she left the library. She flicked through them in her room. When her timetable flashed, telling her it was time to go to her next class, Ginny slipped them back in her bag, ready to return them after this meeting.

Remus Lupin was waiting for her in an empty classroom, and Ginny spent the next hour and a half using her knowledge practically against all manner of creatures.

"You're doing great, Ginny. There hasn't been anything I've thrown at you that you didn't know how to combat, and that's excellent." He smiled at her, and Ginny smiled back, before heading down to lunch.

Dumbledore had organised people from the Order of the Phoenix, and from wizarding universities, to come and teach her. Ginny was glad, that for once she actually did have some challenges. Some of her classes were held out in Hogsmeade, though most of the wizards and witches came in via portkey to teach her in Hogwarts.

Noe and then she had completely free periods, where the person who was supposed to teach her couldn't come in.

Her meetings with McGonagall were spent meditating, trying to search within her, for any animal that she felt close to. She produced her patronus for Lupin on a request, and he had been astounded at how real it had appeared.

Ginny new that a person's patronus was usually made of the silver light which was their happiest thoughts, but for some reason, her unicorn came out pure white, with a golden horn, unlike any other patronus any of her Professors had ever seen, and she ended up showing all of them.

To Ginny's great surprise, every Friday afternoon she spent with Harry, who taught her more practical defensive magic. Her Friday mornings were usually with Professors Snape and Slughorn, who taught her all different potions.

By the end of the semester, as well, she had finished reading the books which were kept in the restricted section at Hogwarts. Each day that was nearer and nearer to the day when she would go home and see the family she had grown up in seemed slower and slower to her, until, finally, the day arrived, after what seemed like forever, and Ginny had a bag packed with necessities, and was waiting in the Entrance Hall, with the rest of the students who were going home.

**A/N:** Love the reviews, guys ^^ keep them coming.


	12. Chapter Eleven

Ginny sat with Draco on the train, as she always did. Leaning against him, she let Draco run his hand through her hair. She sighed happily, and readjusted herself slightly so she was even more comfortable against him.

"Mum and Dad already know you won't be coming with me for Christmas, and why." Draco said, and Ginny smiled against him. Ginny had been really surprised at Draco's reaction when she had told him she was related to the Weasley's. She knew how much he disliked the whole Weasley family. Ginny knew that the feelings were returned by the whole Weasley family, and she had decided fairly early on that she probably wouldn't bring Draco to her family any time soon.

Draco waited with her at King's Cross for the Lee family to come and pick her up. Narcissa was there with them, and marvelled over Ginny's hair.

"What a fantastic colour." She said. She didn't acknowledge the fact that she was a Weasley, and Ginny didn't bring it up. She knew the Malfoys well enough by now to know that there was no love lost between the two great pureblood families. Lucius wasn't there, but he never was there to pick them up from the train station. Ginny never bothered to wonder where the intimidating blonde man was, though she knew enough to guess that, for the last two years at least, when he was gone, he was doing activities relating to HWMNBN. (**A/N: **He who must not be named!)

"We'll miss you this Christmas, Ginny." Narcissa said, embracing the small girl before her as a rather impatient looking America Lee pulled up at the train station, her car much smaller than it had been when Ginny had last seen her.

"I'll miss you too." Ginny said as she hugged Narcissa. She was glad when Narcissa moved away, giving her a chance to hug and kiss Draco, the feel of his mouth pressed against hers calmed her heart, and she knew only then just how nervous she was to spend her holiday with the Lee family.

"Ginny? Is that you, dear? What in the Lord's name did you do to your hair?" America asked the moment the redhead walked over to the car. Ginny didn't get a chance to explain before she was wrapped in America's arms, being squeezed tight. "Sorry the others couldn't come to pick you up. They'll all be home for Christmas, but at the moment it's just going to be me, you, and Christopher." Ginny saw Christopher's grinny face then. Sitting in the back seat of the surprisingly small car, Chris waved at the girl he had once known as a sister.

Ginny slid in to the seat beside him, as America climbed in the front seat and began driving. The house was knew, much smaller than the one they used to live in. Christopher was eager to give Ginny a tour. He had sent pictures of it, but it wasn't the same as seeing the real thing.

"Henry should be home from work soon." America said, as she flitted about the kitchen. Everything just seemed so normal. So natural. Ginny's eyes were watering despite herself as she went through the familiar motions of helping the woman who had once been a mother to her cook dinner.

"So what made you decide to go red, Ginny?" Chris asked. He sat on the bench top, the way he used to, sitting there watching his mother and the girl he would always think of as his sister make dinner.

"It's my natural colour." Ginny said. She hadn't really wanted to talk much about magic with the Lees, knowing how the would feel about it, but now she started she couldn't stop, and she began to explain what life was like at Hogwarts, how wonderful everyone was. She didn't mention HWMNBN. She didn't want America or Christopher to worry, and she knew that there was no way HWMNBN would ever be able to get into Hogwarts anyway.

It was like Ginny never left. They ate dinner at the table, throwing stories around, and everything was the same, as if Ginny hadn't been gone for four years.

That is, everything was fine until her last day there. America woke Ginny up early in the morning. Ginny had packed everything the nigt before. Though Chris should be dropped off first, he was allowed to go with America and Henry to drp Ginny off on the way, and then they'd drop him off at school later.

"You take care of yourself, Ginny." America said, hugging Ginny tightly. "You're always welcome here. I'm so sorry about..." She trailed off, and she wasn't the onl one with tears in their eyes. Henry shook her hand firmly, his other hand gripping hard on her shoulder. Then it came to Chris.

Chris was so much different to how Ginny had pictured him. He'd grown up while she had been away, and was now a tall, slender young man, with curly brown hair, and bright blue eyes which twinked. Ginny had met his girlfriend at Christmas, and knew that she would be a lucky girl indeed in a few years time.

Chris hugged Ginny tightly, nearly squeezing all the breath out of her. He surprised her by picking her up and spinning her around. And suddenly crumpled underneath her, as a jet of green light hit him. Ginny screamed, and looked around, recognising the spell from a couple of years previously where the imposter Mad-Eye Moody had demonstrated the three unforgiveable curses for the third year students.

He Who Must Not Be Named was there, hissing at his failure to kill her. Ginny's eyes went wide. Henry and America were bent over Chris, shaking him, trying toget some response from him, unaware that he would never again laugh at one of their bad puns, or enjoy dinner with them.

Ginny leapt into action. She grabbed her wand from where it had been in her pocket, and began firing advanced spells she had been learning this year at him. Voldemort was mildly surprised at the strength and suddenness of some of the spells, and Ginny was sure she saw a flash of something in his eyes as a spell she had learned from a restricted book narrowly missed him, the jet of flame that burst from her wand incinerating a stand of brochures instead.

Before Ginny could send another spell, one hit her from behind, sending her propelled forward. She saw shock in Voldemort's eyes, and he apparated out quickly. Sitting up, Ginny looked around and saw Ron standing behind her, wand out, a horrified expression on her face. Harry and Hermione were still catching up, Ron's fast legs had given him an advantage to get there faster. Ginny ignored this however, throwing herself at Chrstopher, next to America and Henry, shaking his shoulders hurriedly.

"Chris?" She asked, her eart beating fat in her chest. Her hand, despite herself, went to his wrist, checking on his pulse. There was none. Ginny's breath stopped in her throat. She felt an arm around her shoulders, and she felt herself being pulled away.

She watched America and Henry crying over Chris's body, concerned passers-by calling ambulances, putting out the brochure stand which was still on flames. She was turned around, so she was facing the way she was being tugged, barely feeling the people running past her, heading towards the scene of the ruckus. She didn't notice that it was Harry who was pulling her away until she was sitting in a compartment with him, Ron, and Hermione.

She didn't pay attention to any of their words, her mind was elsewhere, with a young boy, barely a man, who was just finishing his first day of school for the year. At one point goblet was pushed into her hands, but she didn't drink and it was soon taken away.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry, this one took a while to write. Had a few days of anti-inspiration, and then lots of uni work - blah, blah blah. Probably should have the next chapter up soonish :3


	13. Chapter Twelve

The first thing Ginny really noticed about her surroundings was that it was white. Very white After a while, she started looking around, and found out that she was in the Hospital Wing. She had only been there once before, in her second year, when she had come to check on Draco, after he was attacked during a class by a hippogriff.

Needless to say, when she met a hippogriff the nextyear, in the exact same class, she treated the great creature with respect.

"Ah, Miss L-Weasley." Madam Pomfrey said when she saw that Ginny was awake. She had a clipboard in front of her, and she quickly tapped a few things on the top sheet of paper with her wand. "There doesn't seem to be much physical damage. You had a broken rib from an expulsion spell that wasn't meant to hit you, and a couple of minor burns. You had a sprained wrist, as well, from rapid fire spells. You also seemed to have been more or less healed by the time you came to me." She said, matter-of-factly.

"What happened?" Ginny asked, feeling her throat was raw. She went to rub it, and found her hands were both bandaged up so that there was no way she could manage to undo one bandage without having the other already unbandaged.

"You seem to be one of the lucky few to have survived an encounter with You-Know-Who." Madam Pomfrey said, as she watched Ginny looking at her hands. "Your throat should be feeling a bit sore for a while, that's perfectly natural with he remedy I gave you. And your hands should be ready to be unbandaged in a few days."

With that, Madam Pomfrey left Ginny looking around the Hospital Wing, only to find that she wasn't the only one there.

Ron was in the bed next to hers, a cool cloth on his forehead, and his skin tinted everso slightly green. "Ron?" She frowned, an tried to think back to what had happened before she arrived in the Hospital Wing. The last thing she could remember was arriving at the Lee's for Christmas, and seeing Chris's face light up as he showed her around the house.

Madam Pomfrey came back not too much later, with Ron, Harry, Draco, and to Ginny's extreme surprise, Professor Slughorn in tow.

"Remember what I told you." Ginny couldn't be positive, but she swore she heard the Matron whisper this under her breath to the odd group before leaving. Draco immediately came to her side, sitting on the chair next to her, and just the feel of his hand on hers, even through the heavy bandages, made Ginny's heart beat ten times faster

"You alright, Gin?" He asked, his voice soft, as the other two students glanced briefly at Draco before moving to Ron's bed, next to hers. Professor Slughorn stalled in the aisle between beds for a few moments, watching Ginny closely, before he followed Ron and Hermione to Ron's bedside.

Draco didn't stay long. He promised to visit later, when they could be alone, and gave Ginny a soft kiss on the cheek before leaving. That was when Harry left Hermione to sitting next to Ron, and sat in the chair Draco had recently vacated.

"What happened to Ron?" Ginny asked. Before Harry could start, Madam Pomfrey came up, and helped Giny sit up straighter, and managed to set up a drink of water through a straw which magically hang right next to her mouth.

"He drank some poison. If it hadn't been for Professor Slughorn, who had a kit with bezoars in it nearby at the time, he would have almost certainly died." Harry said. Ginny's eyes widened, and if Madam Pomfrey hadn't come back again, with some food, giving Harry strict instructions to make sure that Ginny was to eat it all before he left, she would have attempted to get up, to sit with Hermione by her brother's bedside.

Professor Slughorn didn't stay long. He left before Ron woke up, leaving Ginny alone with Harry and Hermione.

"Ginny, I-" Harry started, but didn't get to finish his sentance, as a rather upset Hermione slapped him before he could get any further, already anticipating what he planned on saying.

"Harry." She whispered, her voice harsh. Harry grimaced, but stopped talking. Ron woke up not too long after then, and Madam Pomfrey came down, closing his curtains off. Ginny could hear some sharp whispers from behind the curtain, and by the time it was moved away, Harry and Hermione had both had to leave for dinner.

Ginny had been in the hospital wing for over a day, since she had first arrived off the Hogwarts Express. Although she couldn't remember it at all, apparently she fainted, and was taken directly to the hosptal wing, and Madam Pomfrey's kind if firm hand.

Ginny was released a week later. Her hands had been unbandaged the day before, and now she wriggled her fingers, feeling weaker than usual. She had a new timetable this term, but it didn't take her long to get into it. On top of being taught advanced magic, she was now also teaching it to some students who were able to learn, and helping others lean their regular classes when they had trouble.

Professor McGonagall was more than happy to cancel for a few weeks, to get Ginny fully back to feeling better, but Ginny felt insane not being able to do something. She welcomed it when she sat across from the Transfiguration Professor, their knees and foreheads touching, as they slipped into a deep meditation. This term the classes on becoming an animagus were longer than they had been the term before. Instead of an hour a week, this lesson took the entire Monday. This gave Ginny a much better chance to learn her animal.

"Just let your mind feel the impressions of the universe." McGongall said, as Ginny sat down across from her the day after she was released from the Hospital Wing.

Ginny went through the meditation excercise, breathing in and out slowly and carefully, centring her breathing, and focusing beyond it. Her eyes were open, but she didn't see anything that was happening in front of her.

Ginny felt herself burning. Fire was engulfing her. She had experienced this before, and pushed aside the agony of the feeling of being burned alive. A new feeling came to her, in the absence of the fire. Her body was being lifted, engulfed in air, and the feelng was wondrous. Joyous. It made her heart beat in her chest, and it made her fingers tingle pleasently. This was something she had also experienced before.

It was usually here where their session ended, leaving Ginny gulping, and clumsy, suddenly back in the cumbersome body which was so stationary, and still. Ginny wondered how she was supposed to go on, past this feeling of absolute bliss. She took a deep breath, or tried to, feeling that the wind rushing pat her, embracing her, carressing her, was more magickal than she could imagine.

Ginny remembered the feeling of theagony of being burned alive, and remembered how she had gotten rid of that feeling. Ginny completely ignored the amazing feeling she felt. And another soon took its place. Ginny felt sorrow worse than she could ever have imagined. It was much as if she were alone. Tears which were so rare to her flowed out of her eyes. Before she could ignore this feeling, another quickly tok its place. A different sort of jubilation, this time Ginny felt the world open its arms to accept her, or more importantly, her tears.

She felt the wonder of the world, in receiving her tears. She felt the beauty of the world around her, and suddenly the burning feeling was back. This time she couldn't puh it away. Ginny screamed, one brief sharp sound which pierced the air around her, startling Professor McGongall from her own meditation. Ginny collapsed forward on the ground, barely missing Professor McGonagall as she jumpe up to grab her wand, her reflexes quick, ven as she grew older.

Ginny had been waring her school uniform, the school robes hanging over a chair in the small room McGonagall had for the two of them. And as Ginny fell against the ground, her shirt seemed to burst into flames. McGonagall was quick with a water spell, and doused the flames in moments. Kneeling beside her student, McGonagall put one hand on Ginny's back, finding that it was surprisingly hot for having only briefly been surrounded by flames

Pulling Ginny's ruined shirt up, McGonagall found a mark burned into the small of her back. The same colour as Ginny's hair, the two small wings looked as though they were made of fire. This was the source of the heat. McGonagall was startled, and did the only thing she could think of doing, and immediately called Professor Dumbledore, and Poppy Pomfrey.

* * *

**A/N:** To make up for having not posted a chapter in a while here's two in a really short time ^^ Would love to say that the next one should probably be up maybe just as soon, but then... it might not be.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

For the second time in two weeks Ginny woke up in the hospital wing, with no idea how she got there. This time, Professor Dumbledore was sitting by her bed when she woke up. He waited patiently, without saying a word, as Madam Pomfrey helped Ginny sit up. hat was when Ginny noticed that just like the last time she had woken up in the hospital wing, her hands were bandaged up too tight to be able to do anything with.

"What is the last thing you remember before passing out?" Dumbledore asked, and Ginny told him about what she had seen in her vision. Steepling his fingers as she described the various feelings, Dumbledore's blue eyes glanced at her only once or twice, preferring to spend their time on the empty bed opposite hers.

"And what does that make you think?" Dumbledore asked, and Ginny looked up quickly at the Headmaster. She knew what he was talking about, without need for clarification.

"My animagus is a phoenix." She said, and Dumbledore nodded, looking through his steepled fingers towards her.

"You feel ready then, I assume, to transform?" He asked, and Ginny thought about it for a moment before nodding. Dumbledore returned the nod, his face contemplative as he studied the redhead. "There is a book, in the restricted section..." He said slowly, and Ginny watched him as he seemed to be thinking over his words, how best to say what he was trying to say. "A book about a prophesy." He said, and Ginny nodded.

"I've read it." She said, her voice catching in her throat despite herself. Before either could go on, Madam Pomfrey bustled past, and poured a table spoon of thick amber coloured fluid for Ginny to swallow. Having taken this the last time she was here, Ginny was prepared for the sweet, nutty taste of the remedy, to be fullowed by a horrible after taste which burnt her throat, and made it feel raw.

"Same rules as before." Madam Pomfrey said. "No talking for an hour." She cast a quick glance at Dumbledore, as if trying to tell him something with her eyes that she didn't want Ginny to know, before heading back to her office, leaving the headmaster and student together alone.

"Don't worry, she's letting you go to dinner tonight." Dumbledore whispered under his breath to Ginny, who couldn't help but smile at him, as his eyes twinkled at her. "And if you'll come to my office Monday next week, I'd very much like to ask you not to transform until then?" Ginny nodded, kowing how much her troat would hurt if she spoke she smiled at Dumbledore, who returned her smile with twinkling eyes. "If you'd like to, I can ask Poppy to let you go now, as long as you don't talk or eat anything until the hour's up." He suggested, and Ginny nodded eagerly.

Soon enough her hands were free, and she found herself hugging the frail old man. Smiling, and patting Ginny's back for a bit with his good hand, Dumbledore pulled away eventually, and left Ginny to go to the Slytherin Common Room.

Ginny glanced at her timetable as she sat down on a comfortable arm chair by the fire. Tomorrow was a day she would spend working with students who needed help, in their spares. She yawned, and found herself sleeping by the fire for a while, until a hand on her shoulder roused her.

"Gin. I've missed you." Draco said, pressing his lips against Ginny's forehead. Ginny glanced at the clock, glad to see that the hour was up, and caug Draco up on what had happened that day. When Draco asked why she had been in the hospital wing, Ginny shrugged.

"I don't know." She said. "One momentI feltlike I was on fire, the next I was awake in the hospital wing." Draco frowned, but accepted this. It wasn't until Ginny dropped her bag on the way to the Great Hall and had to bend over to retrieve it that Draco noticed the mark in the small of her back.

"Gin, what's this?" He asked.

"What's what?" Ginny asked, trying and failing to see her back. Draco handed her a mirror from his bag, and Ginny used it to see the wings of flames in the small of her back. She was so shocked when she saw the mark, she dropped the mirror.

Ginny instantly dropped to her knees, and began scooping up the glass, completely forgetting about her wand. Draco was startled into dropping beside her and helping her trying to pick up the sharper bits to stop Ginny accidentally cutting herself.

When Ginny deposited the mirror fragments in the bin, Draco swept the rest up with magic, and added them to the bin, sothere wasn't a tiny shard that a little boy or girl could injure themselves with.

"So what is it?" Draco pushed, an Ginny looked at him.

"_Born in a time of great need,_

_The impossible child will be born,_

_Greatly will she live her life,_

_With flames of wings upon her back,_

_She'll help those in sufferance,_

_She'll light up the end of the dark,_

_With magic unknown to us,_

_Her will much like iron,_

_Nothing will stop the phoenix,_

_Who's tears will heal all wounds._" Ginny said, reciting the prophesy she had read, word for word. Draco stopped walking and stared at her, his grey eyes studying her violet ones. "There's more to it as well," Ginny said, and continued walking, just wanting to break the silence between them. "But those pages were torn out. The very last line's the only other thing that was there. '_When all else is gone, she will start the world anew_."

Draco opened his mouth as he followed her, and was about to ask her something before Ginny spun to face him, and kissed him passionately. Surprised, Draco kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her waist, letting him feel her body against his.

"Please, don't ask me anything else." She whispered as she pulled away, and Draco agreed, despite his yearning to understand what else she knew.

When they got to the Great Hall, Ginny was about to sit down with Draco at the Slytherin table when she saw Hermione waving her over to the Gryffindor table, and went to join them instead. Ginny had joined them a few times for dinner in the last term, and had found that the professors actually encouraged it except for Professor Snape.

"Heya." Ginny said, smiling as she sat down next to Ron.

"How are you feeling?" Harry asked, and Ginny noticed Hermione shooting daggers at Ron.

"Fine." Ginny said. She decided not to mention anything about the prophesy. She knew Draco as already worried about it, she didn't want them to be aswell.

"So you had a good Christmas?" Ron asked, and Hermione swore at him vehemently, and Harry even reached across the table and slapped his best friend.

"Umm..?" Ginny asked, confused, and Hermione bit her lip.

"Obliviate." Hermione whispered under her breath, and Ginny's eyes unfocused for a moment, before refocusing.

Hermione's attempt at wiping Ginny's memory, what she had been told to do incase someone mentioned Christmas, or something that could have brought up her memories of the last time she saw the family she had grown up with was the catalyst. Ginny's memories came flooding back, of a fantastic Christmas holiday, followed by a terrifying return trip to Hogwarts.

"Chris!" She screamed out, re-living the memory. The entire Hall was looking at her, and at the top table, where the Professors sat, Professor Dumbledore sighed. He had been hoping to slowly let her remember everything, carefully and safely.

Ginny felt everyone's eyes on her, and ran out of the Hall. She was up in her lonely dormitory before anyone could so much as think of following her.

"Don't let anyone in." She told the portrait of a young man, who she had hung up at the bginning of the year, after enchanting it with the spells she knew would make him guard her dormitory from anyone coming in except for herself.

"What if they know the password?" Ginny had painted the young man herself. He was, in every way, shape and form, exactly like the Chris she had remembered, a young boy, barely a man, who was full of eager smiles and joyful expressions. She had painted several canvases, and enchanted them all so they were linked, and so that there was only one Chris. She kept the smallest portrait of him in her bag, and it was there for her to use for whenever she wanted to get into bed partcularly fast, like after light's out. It had been difficult enchanting that one, seeing that she wanted to be able to take the portrait thrugh the portrait, but she had managed it, and given a portrait to Ron.

As well as allowing other people and herself quick access to her room, the portraits of Chrs allowed the people with the password to go through to any of the other portraits, which allowed Ginny to visit her brother, Harry, and Hermione late at night, or sneak into Draco's lonely dormitory... Unlike her dormitory, which was lonely because she was the only Slytherin girl in her year, Draco's father had given a substantial donation o the school for his son to have a private dormitory.

"Especially if they know the password." Ginny said, before turning her portrait of Chris over. She couldn't look at him. It's her fault he's dead... It's all her fault.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

"You didn't have to do anything! You're dead! DEAD!" Ginny broke down into sobs despite herself, already regretting the scorch mark she had made in the portrait in her room. Chris had just managed to move to another portrait before the spell had hit him.

"And I can't let you join me..." Chris said, his voice so quiet he sobbing redhead couldn't hear him. A few minutes earlier, Draco had come through the portrait into her room, just in time to grab her hands and pull them away from the razor blades she had nearly gouged into her wrists. A shouting match between the three had shortly ensued, until Draco took a step back, watching as Ginny flung flames at the boy she had loved as a brother.

"Gin?" Draco asked, sitting on the bed next to her. His arm went acros her shoulders, pulling her cloe to him. "It wasn't your fault, Gin." Draco said, knowing what Ginny was upset about.

"It was. It was my fault." Ginny sobbed, her breast heaving. She wiped her eyes, feeling embarassed to be cryig in front of anyne, let alone Draco.

She was in the hospital wing a few minutes later, where Draco had forced her to go. Her hands were bandaged up once more, so she couldn't move them, and Ginny knew, now, why that was. The medicine, she realised now, was an anti-depressant, something that focused her attention on everythng except Chris.

"Twice a day, and no talking for an hour after taking it. Come back in a week for a refill." Madam Pomfrey said as she handed over the bottle of the potion. Ginny nodded. She had just taken a dose, and couldn't say anything. She thought about possibly refusing to, but knew that it was for the best.

Breakfast had just started, so Ginny sat down next to Draco, ignoring Ron's attempt to call her over. She leaned her head against Draco, and was glad to feel his arm around her shoulder, comforting her.

By the time she was in a small room, waiting for her first small group of students who wanted help with preparing potions ingredients, her hour was up and she was able to talk thouh her throat still felt raw.

Ginny started with simple ingredients, ones used in most potions, glad to have something to completely take up her mind. The group of sixth year students left the class knowing every way they could ever possibly prepare a newt for use in potions, and what potions were more likely to use which way of preparing them.

The next class was a group of people wanting to learn advanced defensive magic, which Ginny was happy to teach them. Lunch she spent with Draco, glad that he took her attention away, distracting her with his soft kisses, and his gentle embraces.

Ginny went to bed that night, and found she couldn't sleep. Though her attention was far from Chris's death, she felt troubled. Givin up, Ginny left her room, and went to Draco's instead. No one was awake in the common room, which wasn't that uncommon for this late at night.

Slipping into Draco's room, Ginny crept silently across the floor, and oh so quietly into his bed, before she realised he wasn't even in it. Lighting up the tip of her wand, it felt like daylight in the room as Ginny looked around for Draco, only to find that he was definitely not there. Frowning, Ginny yawned, feeling tired suddenly, and before she knew it she was asleep in Draco's bed, the light at the end of her wand gradually dimming as she slept.

Draco returned to his room early in the morning. He was positively exhausted, and threw himself on his bed, rolling over, and found himself face to face with a pleasantly sleeping Ginny. Seeing her there, on his bed, her flame red hair spread out on his pillow, a rogue curl across her cheek, framing her pointed face, even in sleep.

Draco reached out and gently brushed the rogue lock of hair away, behind Ginny's ear. He moved himself closer to her, feeling her slender body pressing up against his own. He granted her a feather light kiss on her cheek.

Ginny didn't wake up, sleeping calmly, though the expression on her face troubled Draco. He wrapped an arm around her, and let himself fall asleep next to her, reliving in his mind the night before, how he had just managed to stop her...

Ginny woke up to a pair of grey eyes, staring tiredly into her violet ones. Gentle kisses, and soft caresses distracted Ginny from her mind, as Draco let his feelings out. She responded in kind, her mouth pressing against as much of Draco's skin as she could, feeling his lean muscles, from playing Quidditch.

They left each other reluctantly, knowing that they had to go to class. Their bodies yearned for each other, and Ginny struggled to escape from the sweetness of Draco's kisses. She had to take her potion. She had to get ready to meet with Professor Snape.

"I love you." Draco whispered against Ginny's hair, and Ginny felt her heart beating roughly inside of her chest

"I love you, too." Ginny whispered back, resting her head against Draco's chest, sure she could feel and hear his heart there, keeping perfect time with her own racing muscle.

They didn't make it to breakfast, and even running to the dungeons, which weren't very far from the Slythein common room, Ginny was a few minutes late. She was glad when Professor Snape avoided commentary on this, having expected some sort of sneering taunt, even tough she knew she was by far his favourite student.

**A/N:** Hope you enjoy this chapter, sorry that it's a bit short, next one should be up soonishish, and should be longer.


	16. Chapter Fifteen

The week passed quickly, and Ginny found herself in a glaring match with the gargoyle outside of Professor Dumbledore's office.

Her mind was imagining herself just blasting it apart, but she doubted the Emeralds in the Slytherin hourglass needed any more encouragement to fly up to the top half. She kept her wand in her backpack pocket, however, and just continued to glare at the stone monstrosity.

"You don't have the password. No matter how much you glare at me, I can't let you in. It's against the rules. You should know that. Aren't you supposed to be smart?" Ginny was annoyed with the gargoyle already, and now she stamped her foot in frustration.

"Professor Dumbledore told me to see him!"

"Yet he didn't tell you the password, hmm?"

"He must have fogotten!"

"Or he didn't."

Ginny stamped her foot again. She knew it was childish, but it felt like the only way to relieve the frustration she was feeling towards the gargoyle.

"Are you going to let me in or not?"

"I would have thought that much is obvious! And here Dumbledore told me you were smart. Go away." The gargoyle poked his tongue out at her, and Ginny sat down quite abruptly on the ground.

"I'm not leaving until you let me in, or he comes out to let me in himself." She said, poking her tongue out at it.

"When you start growing a beard I'm going to laugh at you." The gargoyle said, and Ginny just glared at him.

It was silent for a while after this, as the Gargoyle licked it's fangs, and as Ginny, growing bored already, pulled out a book on ancient symbols.

"Miss Le-Weasley, whatever are you doing sitting on the floor like that? Waiting for someone to trip over you?" Ginny looked up at the cross sound of Professor Slughorn's voice. He seemed to check himself as if he hadn't quite realised who it was he had been talking to, before passing it off as nothing and continuing on as before, standing menacingly over her, demanding an answer.

"The gargoyle won't let me in to see Professor Dumbledore without the passord." Ginny said. "And I don't have the password." Ginny could see a vein in Professor Slughorn's temple beginning to twitch.

"Codswallop." He said.

"But it's true!" Ginny pleaded.

"No, Codswallop is the password, my dear." Professor Slughorn said, before leaving.

"Codswallop." Ginny said, skeptically, and the gargoyle sprang aside with a mock bow.

"Of course, your majesty." The being said, and Ginny scowled at it as she stepped onto the moving spiral staircase.

"Ah, Ginny. I must admit, I was expecting you a mite sooner." Professor Dumbledore said, smiling with a twinkle in his eye as Ginny stormed in in a huff. She sat down across from him, and would have glared at him, if she hadn't seen how weary the old man appeared.

"Your gargoyle wouldn't let me in." Ginny said, and Dumbledore chuckled to himself slightly. "

"Yes, he's been known to do that, on occasion." He said, and Ginny noticed his voice seemed wearier than ever. "Now, Fawkes is in his prime at the moment, today, I thought we'd have you exploring your animagus form, with Fawkes as a guide, so you don't forget yourself. I assume you know how to transform?"

The last question was a deliberate goad, and Ginny knew it. Closing her eyes, she felt her body liquify, melt down, and spread out, her arms turning into wings, feathers sprouting from her entire body, and when she blinked, it was with the milky eyes of a bright red phoenix.

"Excellent, excellent." Dumbledore said. For a few minutes Ginny was measured up and down and all around, as Dumbledore made notes in a leather-bound book. He tutted as he lifted her wings, stretching them out to find her wingspan, and compared them to Fawkes.

When he was finished examining her, Ginny ruffled her feathers, and began preening, before Fawkes interrupted her with a sharp call.

Ginny looked up into Fawkes' bright, icy blue eyes, and made a warbling sound, being unused to her beak.

Ginny shocked herself by the sound which came out of her beak, for a moment she looked around, expecting a baby bird, confused and alone to be somewhere in the office, before she realised that the pathetic noise had been made by her, and she dipped her beak in recognition.

Fawkes made another sharp call, and Ginny looked up into his eyes once more. Fawkes tilted his head to the side, studying her for a moment, before spreading his wings. Ginny's milky eyes widened. She was going to learn how to fly!

A/N: Sorry that I didn't update in a while. I feel horrible about it. But better late than never :3. Hope you enjoy that chappie, and the next one should be up soon *and I promise with all my heart that the next chappie, or maybe the one after it, is going to be a long one*


	17. Chapter Sixteen

Ginny curled up next to Draco in his bed. It was one of the few nights he was in. His arms were wrapped around her, keeping her close to him. Ginny's head was resting on Draco's chest, and before she had fallen asleep, she had been happy in hearing his peaceful breathing.

Ginny woke up in the morning, and wriggled backwards to look up into Draco's pale grey eyes. He had been awake for a while, watching her sleeping peacefully. His hand had gone up to her hair, stroking the bright red locks.

"Good morning, sunshine." He whispered, and Ginny couldn't help but smile into his eyes.

"Good morning yourself." She whispered back, and wriggled up towards her, and kissed him softly. Draco kissed her back, pulling her even closer to him.

"Definitely a good morning." Ginny whispered when she finally pulled away, a smile playing on her lips. Since that first moment, flying in the air, her heart racing within her breast, there had not been a single thought of Christopher passing through her mind.

"I love you." Draco whispered against Ginny's lips.

"I love you, too." Ginny whispered back, before nestling against him once more.

Ginny stayed with him a while before they both had to go to their classes for the day. Ginny was reluctant to leave Draco, and the peace of their morning, but she got up and got dressed anyway, before heading to the empty classroom where she was going to help a bunch of sixth year Hufflepuff's with potions.

Draco sat in his Transfiguration class, watching Ron who was unsuccessful in his attempt at transfiguring a chess piece to jump to life. Harry already had the muggle chess set leaping about the board, beating each other up, and Hermione had her figurines dancing gracefully to music she had managed to charm from thin air.

Draco's own figurines were dancing, though he hadn't bothered giving them music. Now and then some of his figurines would start fighting, and he had to poke his wand in between them to stop them.

Ron's chess pieces started moving across the board, though they halted at every square, unlike the surprisingly fluid movements that Harry's pieces did.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to set this task for you for homework, Mr Weasley." Professor McGonagall said as she went through the rows of desks, looking at everyone's performances.

"Alright Professor." Ron said dejectedly, before packing up the muggle chess set. No one else had failed to do it properly. Draco had a sudden thought, and followed Ron out of the classroom.

"Weasley!" Draco said, as he approached Ron. "I've got something for you."

"What do you want, Ferret?" Ron spat at the floor, and Draco side-stepped the spit.

"I want to try to make up for the animosity between us, over the years." Draco said, his heart in his eyes. Harry and Hermione were flanking Ron, and both looked as if they were ready to start flinging curses at him.

"Thanks and all, but I don't really care."

"Look, I'm dating your sister, whether you like it or not, and I want there to be some good feelings between us, for her sake." Draco said. "I can offer you lessons in subjects you're having trouble with. Like potions."

"As if I'd want your help, Ferret." Ron said. "And my sister may be dating you for now, but a teenager's feelings are only temporary."

Draco was about to say something, but Ron just walked away. Harry followed his best friend, and he was left standing looking at Hermione.

"Don't mind him. He's not in the best mood right now anyway." Hermione said, glancing behind her to watch her two best friends walk out of sight. "If you want, I can see what I can do?"

"Thanks, Gra-Hermione." Draco said. And Hermione was surprised that he had used her first name, but even more so that he hadn't called her mudblood.

"You really love her, don't you?" She asked, and Draco nodded, his voice stuck somewhere in his throat. "I'm sure she really loves you, too... I wish the both of you luck." She looked around. "I'm sure you'll need it in abundance soon enough." With that she left, before Draco could ask her what she meant.

While Draco was walking to his next class, wishing that the Weasley family weren't so stubborn, Ginny was looking at her bottle of medicine. She knew she should take some. If she didn't she would probably do something horrible. But since she had transformed the day before, the small voice of instinct told her that she shouldn't have any more.

"I shouldn't rely on you." She said, finally, to the medicine, before measuring out the contents and tipping the spoonfuls down the sink. "Two more weeks." She said to herself, as she rinsed out the bottle, and refilled it with a mixture which looked remarkably similar to the medicine, but would have the same effect on her as water. It would quench her thirst if she drank enough of it, but it wouldn't do anything major to her.

Stuffing this new mixture under her pillow, where she had kept the old one, she headed down to the classroom where she helped sixth years with ancient runes. Hermione was there, never one to miss out on getting an extra education, or in spending time with Ginny.

No one else showed up within the first ten minutes, so after a while, Ginny and Hermione spent the class talking about the upcoming Easter holidays.

"I thought people didn't usually go home on the Easter holidays?" Ginny said.

"They don't. But Dumbledore's letting us all go to Grimmauld Place, so you can spend more time with your family." Ginny couldn't help but smile. She knew that the week wouldn't be much, but it would be better than nothing.

"I guess I'd better get packed then?" She asked, and Hermione smiled at her.

"So how are you keeping up with the homework the rest of your grade's doing?" Hermione asked.

"All handed in perfectly on time. All O's." Ginny said, and despite herself, Hermione felt jealous. Though she was a smart witch in her own right, Hermione was no Ginny. Though she got many Outstanding's, she never seemed to get any in Defense Against the Dark Arts, which was the one class she tried hardest in.

"Draco's trying to befriend Ron." Hermione said suddenly, and Ginny practically choke on the water she had brought up to her mouth.

"What?"

"Draco's trying to befriend Ron." Hermione said again. The two spent the rest fo the hour talking about how shocking they both thought this was, and how they might be able to help Draco get through to Ron.

When the bell rang, the two went down to lunch, still discussing the news, and only stopped when Ginny decided to go to the Slytherin table for lunch, where she sat next to Draco, incredibly aware, all of a sudden, of all the death glares Draco seemed to be getting from the Gryffindor table, mainly by the grumpy redhead who seemed to be trying to eat all of the food on the table in front of him before it disappeared.

"Did you take your medicine?" Draco asked, as he wrapped his arm around her. Though it killed her to lie to him, the same voice of instinct she recognised from being in the air told her to nod, and that's what she did.

"Of course I did." Though she hated it admit it to herself, the words slid easily off of her tongue. It was easier than she had ever thought, to lie to someone you loved.

It took until the end of the day for her last dose of medicine to wear off completely. Ginny had already tried sneaking in to Draco's room, only to find that he hadn't been there, again. Ginny was now pacing back and forth anxiously in her own room. The Christopher who was her exit and entrance watched her closely, his eyes knitted together with worry.

"It's alright." Ginny told him, though looking at him made her feel a stab of guilt and pain deep within her chest. All her feelings were returning to her now. Far more horrible than they had been originally, and Ginny knew without a doubt that this was due to the fact that she hadn't been feeling them properly.

Ginny was on the ground by her bed, curled up in a ball, groaning softly to herself, and the Christopher in his portrait on her wall was panicking. He was pacing back and forth in his frame. He had no idea what to do. He could go to one of his other portraits, and he could get someone to come and do something which he couldn't do. But who?

Draco, who he would usually go to, wasn't with his portrait. The portrait that Hermione had was under her bed, and she was already fast asleep. There was no one he could go to. He tried talking to Ginny, in an attempt to calm her feelings down.

But there was nothing he could do, except wait.

Ginny finally began to calm down close to dawn. The feelings were still attacking her. She had shed many tears, and there was a huge wet spot just by the foot of her bed. Finally, though, she was able to move, and she stood up, feeling surprisingly shaky on her feet.

Ginny felt the voice of instinct in her head again, and it was telling her that it was good to feel the pain.

As long as you feel the pain, you can overcome the pain. The hurt is horrible, but without it you'll never be able to achieve anything.

Finally, Ginny accepted, for herself, that Christopher was dead. She was surprised there was no sudden urge to join him. To be so overcome with guilt as to kill herself, her blood joining her tears which soaked the floor beneath her.

Good. You're ready. The time will be soon. The voice of instinct told her. And for the first time, she felt strong again, and she decided to confront the voice.

The time for what? She asked. How am I ready?

The time you'll be needed most. The voice responded. Remember the hurt. Remember the pain. Remember the guilt. Without these human feelings, you'll never make it.

I'll never make what?

You'll see... When the time comes.

* * *

Ginny stretched her wings eagerly behind Fawkes. The two Phoenix's were a lesson in differences. Where Fawkes was old, and weathered looking, even in his prime form, Ginny looked like a queen among birds. Her entire body looked like it was on fire, with the light dancing off the majestically coloured feathers.

Her eyes were the milky white of a newborn Phoenix, though Dumbledore knew they would soon change to her own bright violet colour. Even as he watched the two take off for a lap around the office, Ginny at first struggling, unused to the feeling of flight, he could see the faint hint of purple in the milky white.

If Ginny appeared to be struggling to keep up with Fawkes in the air, it didn't last long. Soon enough she had found her wings, and was delighting in the feeling of flying. It was such a unique experience, she wished to never have to stop. Every tiny move she made seemed to be equal to the most elaborate of moves the real phoenix was making. The power in her wingbeats took her around at least twice as fast as the other bird.

Slow! The voice was unfamiliar to Ginny, but as a bird, she knew she had to follow it, so she slowed down, to match the speed of Fawkes. Fawkes let out a sharp caw, reprimanding her for being disrespectful to her elder's. Though, in Phoenix terms, Ginny's form was past her prime, while Fawkes was the best he could be.

Better. Dip your head. Ginny dipped her head, and Fawkes tilted his head to the side, studying her with his bright blue eyes, so similar to Dumbledore's that Ginny shivered, her feathers ruffling.

The voice which she began to feel was her bird instinct continued to help her out, until Fawkes brought them back down to the table where Dumbledore had sat, occasionally watching them and making marks in his leather bound book.

Change back. Ginny did so, and Dumbledore watched her, his eyes wide with surprise.

"You knew to change back." He commented, and Ginny nodded, not sure she understood what he meant by his statement.

"Of course." She said. Before a page turned in her mind, and she remembered why everyone had to transform with someone they trusted that first time. The first time you were in another form it was all too easy to forget your human form, and that you needed to change back. Tears marked Dumbledore's eyes.

"It's you." He said, and neither of them needed to speak about what he meant by the obscure statement. Ginny looked down at her fingers, briefly surprised to note that they were indeed fingers, and not feathers.

"I think I'd better go now." Ginny said, looking anywhere but at the man before her, and soon enough she was running down the moving stairs, and leaping past the gargoyle.

"Why does no one have any patience any more?" She heard the gargoyle sigh as she leapt past him, before she opened up her bag, and practically leapt through Christopher's portrait there to Draco's room.

Ginny was already cuddled up under Draco's sheets when he came in. Draco smiled at her, and slipped in beside her.

"I missed you at dinner." He said, kissing her forehead tenderly, with as much love as he could put in the small gesture. Ginny sighed happily, and cuddled up to him. She told him about what had happened, how she'd changed, and Fawkes had taught her to fly, and how she had changed back without needing to be reminded of her human form by Dumbledore.

**A/N:** Hope that was long enough for you? I might make the next one even longer? Possibly. Hope you enjoyed it though, and to make up for the while between updates, I thought I'd update ASAP for you.  
Keep the reviews coming, they brighten up my day :3


	18. Chapter Seventeen

The week passed quickly, and Ginny found herself in a glaring match with the gargoyle outside of Professor Dumbledore's office.

Her mind was imagining herself just blasting it apart, but she doubted the Emeralds in the Slytherin hourglass needed any more encouragement to fly up to the top half. She kept her wand in her backpack pocket, however, and just continued to glare at the stone monstrosity.

"You don't have the password. No matter how much you glare at me, I can't let you in. It's against the rules. You should know that. Aren't you supposed to be smart?" Ginny was annoyed with the gargoyle already, and now she stamped her foot in frustration.

"Professor Dumbledore told me to see him!"

"Yet he didn't tell you the password, hmm?"

"He must have fogotten!"

"Or he didn't."

Ginny stamped her foot again. She knew it was childish, but it felt like the only way to relieve the frustration she was feeling towards the gargoyle.

"Are you going to let me in or not?"

"I would have thought that much is obvious! And here Dumbledore told me you were smart. Go away." The gargoyle poked his tongue out at her, and Ginny sat down quite abruptly on the ground.

"I'm not leaving until you let me in, or he comes out to let me in himself." She said, poking her tongue out at it.

"When you start growing a beard I'm going to laugh at you." The gargoyle said, and Ginny just glared at him.

It was silent for a while after this, as the Gargoyle licked it's fangs, and as Ginny, growing bored already, pulled out a book on ancient symbols.

"Miss Le-Weasley, whatever are you doing sitting on the floor like that? Waiting for someone to trip over you?" Ginny looked up at the cross sound of Professor Slughorn's voice. He seemed to check himself as if he hadn't quite realised who it was he had been talking to, before passing it off as nothing and continuing on as before, standing menacingly over her, demanding an answer.

"The gargoyle won't let me in to see Professor Dumbledore without the passord." Ginny said. "And I don't have the password." Ginny could see a vein in Professor Slughorn's temple beginning to twitch.

"Codswallop." He said.

"But it's true!" Ginny pleaded.

"No, Codswallop is the password, my dear." Professor Slughorn said, before leaving.

"Codswallop." Ginny said, skeptically, and the gargoyle sprang aside with a mock bow.

"Of course, your majesty." The being said, and Ginny scowled at it as she stepped onto the moving spiral staircase.

"Ah, Ginny. I must admit, I was expecting you a mite sooner." Professor Dumbledore said, smiling with a twinkle in his eye as Ginny stormed in in a huff. She sat down across from him, and would have glared at him, if she hadn't seen how weary the old man appeared.

"Your gargoyle wouldn't let me in." Ginny said, and Dumbledore chuckled to himself slightly. "

"Yes, he's been known to do that, on occasion." He said, and Ginny noticed his voice seemed wearier than ever. "Now, Fawkes is in his prime at the moment, today, I thought we'd have you exploring your animagus form, with Fawkes as a guide, so you don't forget yourself. I assume you know how to transform?"

The last question was a deliberate goad, and Ginny knew it. Closing her eyes, she felt her body liquify, melt down, and spread out, her arms turning into wings, feathers sprouting from her entire body, and when she blinked, it was with the milky eyes of a bright red phoenix.

"Excellent, excellent." Dumbledore said. For a few minutes Ginny was measured up and down and all around, as Dumbledore made notes in a leather-bound book. He tutted as he lifted her wings, stretching them out to find her wingspan, and compared them to Fawkes.

When he was finished examining her, Ginny ruffled her feathers, and began preening, before Fawkes interrupted her with a sharp call.

Ginny looked up into Fawkes' bright, icy blue eyes, and made a warbling sound, being unused to her beak.

Ginny shocked herself by the sound which came out of her beak, for a moment she looked around, expecting a baby bird, confused and alone to be somewhere in the office, before she realised that the pathetic noise had been made by her, and she dipped her beak in recognition.

Fawkes made another sharp call, and Ginny looked up into his eyes once more. Fawkes tilted his head to the side, studying her for a moment, before spreading his wings. Ginny's milky eyes widened. She was going to learn how to fly!

A/N: Sorry that I didn't update in a while. I feel horrible about it. But better late than never :3. Hope you enjoy that chappie, and the next one should be up soon *and I promise with all my heart that the next chappie, or maybe the one after it, is going to be a long one*


	19. Chapter Eighteen

Ginny handed her empty medicine bottle in to Madame Pomfrey right on time, when it should have run out.  
"Good to see you've been taking it when you're supposed to." Madame Pomfrey said as she refilled the bottle with the same liquid. "Take your next dose in five hours." She said, and Ginny nodded.  
"Thank you, Madame Pomfrey." Ginny said, before she left the hospital wing. Outside the hospital wing, Ginny made her way to Dumbledore's office. She had spent two days so far flying around his office in the form of a phoenix, and she was itching to be able to fly outside.  
"Wait! Miss Weasley!" The voice started Ginny from her thoughts as she was about to climb onto the moving staircase. She pulled back and looked at the first year who had run up towards her.  
"Yes?" She asked. The first year was from Hufflepuff, and even if she wasn't, she probably wouldn't know the little girl's name.  
"Letter from Dumbledore for you miss." The first year said, holding out a scroll of parchment. Ginny took it, surprised.  
"Thank you." She said.  
"Any time, Miss Weasley." The first year said, before running off.  
Ginny smiled to herself at the first year's eagerness, and opened the scroll. Frowning, Ginny read it over again, sure she had misread it the first time, but it definitely said that Dumbledore was going to be away for the next month or so.  
Sighing, Ginny left, wondering what she was going to do for the rest of the day. She was on her way to the library, where she was planning on glancing through a few more books in the restricted section when she saw Snape running past, with Draco cradled in his arms.  
That was more than enough to grab Ginny's attention, and when Harry ran past a few minutes later, with an old potions book clutched to his chest, and turned in the opposite direction, she followed him.  
Ginny had found the Room of Requirement in her second year. There were times when Draco had been doing things where she couldn't join him, so she had settled on exploring the castle. She had found rooms that no one knew even existed. When Harry has shown her a map earlier in the year that his father's friends had made, she had already found all the tunnels and passageways that it showed. And a few more besides.  
The Room of Requirement was one such thing she stumbled upon. She had figured out early on that any stretch of blank wall that went on for too long had to have a room somewhere. And she had found spells early on which showed her how to get into them.  
Ginny ducked behind a statue as she noticed Harry going in. She had just given up, and was about to follow him in there when he came out. There wasn't time to dart behind the statue again.  
"Ginny!" Harry said, looking nervouse. "I-um." He looked away. "Draco's in the hospital wing." Ginny didn't even wait for him to continue. Her legs carried her along the corridors until she reached the hospital wing. Harry was a few minutes behind her, and completely out of breath.  
Ginny's violet eyes danced around the room until she found Draco. Her feet slowed as she walked over to sit beside his bed.  
Draco was incredibly pale, more so than usual, and Ginny could tell immediately that he had lost a lot of blood. There was a slash on his forehead, and chest, which was bare. Harry came in hesitantly behind her, and was deep in conversation with Professor Snape for a few minutes, as he showed him his potions book. Ginny was certain that the book wasn't the same, but as it looked exactly the same, she couldn't be sure.  
"What happened?" She asked, her voice low, but dangerous, as she looked between the two black haired people talking. Both stopped, and looked at her. For a moment Snape looked like he was irritated enough to tear her head off. Then he took a double take. Ginny's entire body seemed to emanate fury.  
Harry whitened, and Snape took a step back. After a moment, where Ginny's hair seemed to turn to flames on her head, and her eyes glowed with some unseen power within, they quickly explained what had happened. Ginny's body took over in a moment, one hand pressing on Draco's forehead, her other hand pressing on his chest. Her eyes seemed to glow, and Snape took a quick breath.  
There was a sudden scream, and Draco's eyes snapped open. It felt like he was on fire. Moments ago he had been weak with lack of blood, and now flames seemed to be rushing in his veins.  
A moment later it was gone, and Ginny collapsed on top of him.  
"I think she's ready." It had been only a matter of days since Ginny had passed out on top of the fully recovered Draco, and Dumbledore was sitting by Ginny's bed in the hospital wing, as Snape paced at the foot of her bed.  
"She's only a child!" Snape snapped back. "She's younger than Draco." He glanced meaningfully into Dumbledore's eyes, but the old man merely managed a small smile.  
"If I didn't know better, I'd say someone was growing attached."  
"What? I- no! They're kids, Albus. And she's younger than the rest."  
"She was made for this."  
"Not this young. None of them should have to do such things this young."  
"Yet if you were their age you would be doing the exact same things." Dumbledore said.  
"And it would be my own choice."  
"As it is theirs."  
"They're too young!"  
"Are you going to go round in circles all day, Severus, or are you going to help them?"  
"I'm going to have to help them." Snape sighed. "They barely stand any chance as it is."  
"Very well then." Dumbledore inclined his head slightly. "You know what to do?" Snape's reply was a curt nod. "Then I'd suggest you prepare yourself." It was Dumbledore's turn to sigh. "I feel that it's all moving up faster than I had originally intended."  
Snape didn't stay any longer. He gave his pacing one more quick try, back and forth, before departing from the hospital wing. Alone now with the unconscious girl, Dumbledore looked at her fondly. "May the human God prove me right." He said, his voice soft. His good hand, wrinkled with age, swept a few stray curls off of Ginny's face, and he sighed. "Please, let Him prove me right."

**A/N**: Okay, this one isn't so long, but the next one's going to be. And, hey, two updates in one, should make up for me being a horrible, horrible person. Right?


	20. Chapter Nineteen

Ginny sat in Dumbledore's office. The old man was patiently working before her, and she couldn't help but fidget somewhat as she looked around her and at the portraits on the wall. The portraits of previous headmasters had long since given up pretending to sleep when she was in the room.  
Fawkes was sleeping softly on her lap, and her hand carefully stroked his full plumage. Fawkes was in his peak at the moment, which really did make Ginny wonder why Dumbledore wouldn't let her practice again.  
"Could you please deliver this to Mr. Potter for me?" Dumbledore had paused with the long scroll he had been diligently scribing to hand a small note to a young first year who had just appeared.  
The first year squeaked, and ran off. Ginny couldn't help but smile at the young boy's shyness.  
"I'm afraid, Miss Ginevra, that we are running out of time."  
"Running out of time?" Ginny asked, head on one side.  
"Assuming my hunch is correct, and they usually are, I would like to offer you some advice." Ginny remained silent, questioning, and Dumbledore continued. "There is a lot of hurt in the world, and a lot of evil. As soon as something is gone, something else rises up and takes its place."  
"What are you on about, sir?"  
"Ginny, I want you to trust me." Ginny frowned. Of course she trusted the headmaster.  
"I do." She said.  
"Tonight, you are going to witness some things that you will wish you had never seen. Tonight, you are going to go through trials that no one, especially not someone your age, should ever have to go through." Dumbledore sighed. "And tonight, you are going to question yourself, and question your magic, more than you may even realise."  
Ginny was more confused than ever. "Professor-" Dumbledore's hand silenced her.  
"No, just listen. In a few moments, I am going to cast a disillusionment charm on you, and you are going to disappear from sight. I trust you already know the counter charm." Ginny nodded, and he continued. "From then, you are going to be silent an invisible, until I have left." There was a question in his eyes, and Ginny nodded reluctantly.  
"But-"  
"But, nothing. Before I cast the charm on you, and you must remain silent, I have one last piece of advice to offer you. And that is to say that tonight is only going to be one night, among years of unrest and unease that you will go through. I have tried to shelter you from this burden, as I have tried to prepare you for it. You must find a way through which you can cope, and you must cling to it. You must cling to hope, that it will end, and I can promise you, that it will."  
Ginny was more confused than ever now, but before she could say a word, there was a knock on the door behind her, and Dumbledore's wand hit her softly on her head. She felt an odd sensation of her body turning to jello before she quickly stood up, and backed away.  
But, dutifully, she remained in the room as the door opened of its own accord, and Harry came in. Harry sat down in the seat she had so recently vacated, and Ginny found herself sidling along until she was next to the case where Gryffindor's sword, and the sorting hat were together.  
Ginny watched in silence, as Dumbledore explained to Harry that they were going to a place from Voldemort's past.  
Voldemort! The word stung harsh in Ginny's mind, and she felt her knees grow weak despite herself. She knew that Harry was the one who was supposed to stand up to Voldemort and defeat him, but the very mention of the evil wizard's name had her terrified. Among most of the books she had read which were written any time within the last fifty years, which weren't that many in a castle like Hogwarts, there was at least one mention of Voldemort and of the horrible things he had done.  
Ginny had found herself horrified that someone could do such things, and especially to muggles.  
And, for whatever reason he had, Ginny knew that he wanted her dead. She had dueled with him herself, after all. That time when he had... No. She mustn't think of that.  
The very thought of Voldemort kept Ginny's mind preoccupied as Dumbledore and Harry finally left.  
Shivering, despite herself, Ginny cast the counter charm which made her completely visible again. Looking around her, she was about to leave, before she noticed the sorting hat, and a memory came to the forefront of her mind.  
She had more or less ignored the sorting hat's words, once she had been placed in Slytherin, but now they came back to her clearly, as if not a day had passed.  
She remembered the horrible rhyming, and how, at the time, she had assumed it was somehow faked.  
"Hmm, I'm not quite sure. You'd do well, in Gryffindor. Perhaps Ravenclaw is the place for you. Heh, I guess Hufflepuff would do well too. Or Slytherin, I guess it could be. Where should you be, oh, dearie me. Okay, okay, I'll stop the rhyming, if you stop that mind of yours. You seem to be quite smart. Maybe you should be in Ravenclaw. You have a large capacity for bravery, I see, in the face of adversity I can tell you'll rise above all else. Your capacity for love and hard work are strong, too, I see. Hufflepuff could be right. I know! I shall put you in SLYTHERIN."  
Ginny didn't linger too long on the consequences. Opening the case, she took out the sorting hat, and on impulse, put it on her head.  
"Didn't I sort you already?" The hat mused. Yes. But I wanted to know why I was sorted into Slytherin. Ginny thought. She knew by now that the hat picked up on thoughts. She remembered thinking that she had spoken aloud, but she knew now that she hadn't.  
"Why Slytherin? Why not?" You said I could easily be in any of the other houses. But you didn't say anything about Slytherin. Ginny could have sworn she heard the hat laugh.  
"And that's exactly why." I don't get it.  
"You would have done excellent in any of the other houses, you would have fit in, you would have belonged. But you needed to learn. And Slytherin gave you the opportunity." Ginny thanked the hat, and took it off, her mind going over what it had said.  
Ginny put the hat back in the case, and carefully put her hand on the handle of Gryffindor's sword. She felt a zap and quickly pulled her hand away, but suddenly there was no sword to pull her hand away from. Startled, Ginny stumbled back, and looked, but there definitely was no sword there.  
Ginny ran from the office as quick as she could then. It felt like her feet had wings. She had no idea where she was going. Just that she had to get out of Dumbledore's office. Ginny found Draco waiting for her in her room, as soon as she entered through her portrait.  
"Draco I-" Draco took Ginny in his arms, pulling her close to his body, and bent down to kiss her. Ginny's concerns about everything Dumbledore had said stilled on her lips as she felt herself get swept away in the kiss.  
"Ginny. I've got to get you out of here. Grab my hand and come with me."  
"Draco-"  
"Trust me." Ginny grabbed Draco's hand, and he dragged her through her portrait, and up to the seventh floor. Pacing three times in front of a stretch of blank wall, Ginny wasn't overly surprised when a door appeared out of nowhere. Draco pulled her through the door, and into a room that was filled with thousands of belongings. The maze of objects caused Ginny's eyes to widen. She followed Draco, almost tempted to slow him down just to get a better look at some of the things they were walking past. Draco stopped outside of a very ordinary looking cabinet.  
"Draco-" Draco's finger pressed against her lips, and the look on his face stilled Ginny's words and questioning heart more than any gesture or words could have done.  
"I want you to hide over there. When everything is black, wait for it to clear, then go through the cabinet. Mum will be on the other side, she'll look after you." Draco's whispered words stayed with Ginny as she did as he asked, crouching behind a bookshelf containing several copies of the invisible book of invisibility, if the bump on Ginny's head was to be any judge.  
Ginny stayed perfectly silent, her eyes wide, as she watched Death Eaters step out of the cabinet. She had had some idea that Lucius Malfoy was into this sort of thing, but Draco... Her Draco... Ginny's heart throbbed. When everything was black, she waited as she was told for it to settle down. While she did, she thought things through.  
She could go through the cabinet, and she could be safe, with Narcissa. Or she could stay here, and she could fight.  
A voice in the back of her mind told her that running to the cabinet would be the best option. She would be safe, and she would be able to sit with Narcissa, worrying about Draco. But that voice was all too easy to ignore.  
The moment the darkness was gone, Ginny was up, and running the way to the door. Offensive and Defensive spells and curses running through her mind as she grabbed her wand.  
Ginny ran to the Gryffindor common room.  
"Let me in! There are Death Eaters in the castle." She said to the Pink Lady, since she didn't know the password.  
"How dare you. Try to get in without the password. It won't work."  
"Then get Ron. Ron Weasley. Please. Please be quick."  
Although Ginny could see the Pink Lady was rather sour about it, she did pass on a message to the common room.  
Before she knew it, Ron was standing in front of Ginny, stifling a yawn, and scratching at the skin between where the top of his squirrel pyjama pants and the bottom of his squirrel pyjama top didn't quite meet.  
"How old are those?" Ginny asked, raising an eyebrow. She held up a hand before Ron could answer. "Never mind. Get everyone who can fight. Death Eaters are in Hogwarts."  
Ron flew into through the portrait hole at that, leaving it open for Ginny to gingerly pick her way through.  
She received some odd looks from the Gryffindors on the other end, though many greeted her as a friend.  
Barely ten minutes later, Ginny, Hermione, and Luna had wands out and were wandering corridors, trying to find the Death Eaters.  
"They have Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder." Ginny told them, and Hermione swore, surprising both girls with her.  
"That'll give them a good advantage." She said.  
Ginny's heart raced in her chest with what she hadn't told anyone. That Draco, her Draco, had let the Death Eaters in.  
"Let's try this way." It was a race against time, and Ginny knew it. Though she couldn't be sure why the Death Eaters were here, she knew it was bad, and she knew she only had until Dumbledore and Harry were back to stop them.  
"I contacted some members of the Order, Ginny. We'll be fine." Hermione squeezed Ginny's hand, though that didn't really comfort her.  
Soon enough Ginny felt herself enveloped by two huge arms from behind.  
"Oh no you don't. We just found you. We're not going to lose you. Go back to your dormitory. You too, Luna. And you, Hermione."  
Ginny sighed as she recognised her oldest brother, Bill.  
"We're fine. We can handle ourselves." Hermione said, and Ginny knew that Hermione was really worried, because she didn't tell Bill to send Ginny and Luna back to their dormitories without her.  
"Uh-uh. Not going to let you-" Bill's reprimand ended with a battle cry as he dropped Ginny, grabbed his wand, and sprang toward a hurling body all in an instant. He and the much larger person he was now facing dueled. "Run!" He didn't have to tell the girls twice. Ginny was in front, with Luna and Hermione following behind as they ran in the direction the larger person Bill was now fighting had come from. It didn't take them long to find a death eater down here, and Hermione and Luna both teamed up to bring him down.  
Ginny continued on, though Hermione called out for her to come back. Luna, on the other hand, just called out to be careful, nearly earning her a cruciatus curse, as it missed by inches.  
Ginny followed her instincts, and made her way up to the Astronomy Tower, though she had no idea why.  
Halfway up the stairs, Ginny engaged in a duel with a tall blonde Death Eater.  
After stupefying him, Ginny ran up more steps, and glanced out of the window at the landing. Her heart froze.  
Hovering in the air, menacing, was the Dark Mark. Right around where she judged Bill to have had his fight.  
Biting back a scream, Ginny ran back towards Bill. She passed Hermione and Luna, who were holding back their death eater. She sent a quick stunning curse his way, and he collapsed. Luna and Hermione picked up on her urgency and ran with her. She was the first one there, and she stunned the large form bending over her brother.  
When the man collapsed, Bill took a sharp intake of breath, and swore.  
"Bill?" Relieved beyond belief to know that her brother was alright, Ginny pushed the large form off of him, finding strength from somewhere within her, and looked at her brother. His face had been mauled, and looked pretty bad. Ginny conjured a stretcher, and Hermione helped her put Bill on it.  
"I'm the big brother here. I'm supposed to be looking after you." Bill said it with a smile, even though Ginny could see it pained him to move his face in such a way.  
A loud thud, and a crack split the air, and everyone froze.  
"Luna, get him to the hospital wing. Quickly." Ginny said. As she ran down the stairs, Ginny allowed herself to wonder where the noise had come from. Her immediate thought was outside.  
Hermione followed Ginny down, though her feet were no match for Ginny's. Another pair of feet soon joined Ginny's, matching her frantic pace, and even surpassing her. Ginny saw Harry's black hair bobbing in front of her, appearing out of thin air. She assumed he was wearing his invisibility cloak and the hood had blown off.  
Ginny put on an extra burst of speed to match him, and the two raced outside. When they reached there, Ginny's ear piercing scream split the air, and she knelt by Dumbledore's body, her violet eyes wide.  
"No." She muttered, repeating the word to herself. Before she knew it, the whole school was there. Called by her scream, and by the ensuing whispers. Dumbledore's dead. Her heart was in her throat as she knelt next to Harry, tears spilling from her eyes as she gazed on the body of the best headmaster Hogwarts had ever known.  
She felt a pair of arms haul her up, after a while, and unlike Harry, who fought to stay by Dumbledore's body, she let them take her. She felt herself drifting away.  
Away from the pain, and heartache that filled the world. Away from the betrayal, and from the hurt. Ginny's mind became hazy, and she felt her body shake, as tears fell from her eyes uncontrolled.  
**A/N:** Sorry again for not posting for a while. I keep on getting lack of inspiration. Or quite the opposite, but no inspiration for this story D=  
Anyway, tried to make it a long one for you. I'll try to make the next one a long one as well. And no idea when that might be up. But hopefully sorta soon...ish.


	21. Chapter Twenty

Ginny opened her eyes on the now familiar white ceiling of the Hospital Wing. Harry was sitting by her side, and she noticed that her hand was clutched in his two larger hands.

"Ginny?" Harry asked, and Ginny looked blurrily up at him. "Gin, I know this will hurt, but I have to tell you. Ron didn't want me to, but I know it's better to know-" Ginny shook her head.

"I already know." She said, her voice sounded dry, and not at all like her. "Draco let the Death Eaters in." Harry grimaced, and nodded.

"I'm sorry." He said, and squeezed her hand. "I know how you felt about him." Harry helped Ginny sit up, and Ginny took a long drink of water.

"I..." Ginny left the word hanging, as she thought about what she was going to say. "I'm over him" wasn't true. She wasn't over Draco. And she knew it would take too long for her to be over him. If she was ever over him. "I'm fine." She decided to say.

Harry squeezed her hand again. "They're ending school early this year-" Harry's voice suddenly choked, and he removed his hands from Ginny's to wipe tears that had been about to spill from his eyes. "The term's over." He said. "His... Dumbledore's... funeral... tomorrow." Harry sighed, and blinked back tears.

Ginny felt some small part of her open up, and she reached out and hugged Harry. "It's okay to cry, sometimes." She said. As if to punctuate this she started crying herself. "Harry, I-" She bit back what she was going to say. She was sorry. She knew how close he was to Dumbledore, but somehow those words seemed too small, too inefficient to help. "I'll be there." She ended up saying.

Harry smiled through his tears, and nodded.  
"'Ere, let me do eet." The heavily accented English sounded vaguely familiar to Ginny, and she sat up and looked around. The curtains were drawn around her and Harry, but the voice came from just past Harry.

"Who's that?" Ginny asked, her forehead furrowed.

"Fleur." Harry said, wondering why Ginny didn't recognise the voice, before he remembered something. "Bill's in the bed next to us."

Ginny practically jumped out of the bed. after a few seconds fighting with the curtains, where she couldn't find the gap, she burst out, and saw her parents, the twins, Ron, Hermione, and Fleur, who she remembered was dating Bill, standing over the bed.

"What happened?" Ginny asked, joining her family. The twins stood aside to let her stand between them, and she saw Bill's face was heavily bandaged.

"Fenrir Greyback attacked him." Remus Lupin said, as he came from where he had been sitting on the next bed. "He won't be a werewolf, but he'll have a few nasty scars." Fleur finished re-tying the bandage around Bill's head, and Ginny took a deep breath.

"Ginny- I'm guessing Harry told you?" Ginny looked up from the blank page she had been staring at for the last ten minutes and nodded.

"I already knew." Hermione sat down next to Ginny, and gave her friend a quick hug.

"I'm so sorry."

Ginny's tears spilled then, and she barely had the presence of mind to push the book away from her so it wouldn't get ruined with her tears.

Ginny found out then just why it was good to have a female friend. When Ginny and Hermione eventually made their way down to the feast, Ginny felt ten times better. Her eyes were red, her cheeks had tear tracks, and her clothes were rumpled, but she couldn't care less.

Ginny sat at the Gryffindor table. Without Draco, there was nothing to keep her at the Slytherin table. She saw him sitting there now. She watched as he stood up, reaching out towards her, and she could see the desperate longing on his face, the terror, the worry. But Blaise, his friend, pulled his arm, and made him sit down, slapping him out of it, so to speak, and Ginny turned her back to him.

Ginny found herself facing Harry, as they ate, and she managed to give him a weak smile.

It was their last night at Hogwarts. It had been a week since Dumbledore's funeral, and that night, Hermione had conjured a bed for Ginny in the Gryffindor dormitories, and though technically still in Slytherin, Ginny became a true Gryffindor.

"Do you wanna go straight to the Burrow, or do you want to come home with me for a bit?" Hermione asked, later that night, when Ginny was just about asleep.

"I think I'll go straight to the Burrow. You'll be there soon, won't you?"

"Of course I will." Hermione said, smiling at her friend.

Ginny slept uneasily that night, though she had to admit each night got slightly easier. When she woke up in the morning, she found that she had begun to desperately clutch her pillow close to her in her sleep.

"Come on, let's go get the train." Hermione said, trying to keep her voice bright. Ginny, Hermione, Harry and Ron found an empty compartment, and though technically against the rules, Hermione locked the door with a spell, as well as cast a spell against people listening in.

Ginny was then filled in on things she had only begun to hear whispered between the trio at Hogwarts.

"I'm going with you." She said, at one point. The three looked at her like she was crazy.

"You're kidding, right? Mum'll go spastic enough that I'm going. Not to mention Harry and Hermione. But if you say you're going there's no way we'll manage to get free of her."

"I'm not asking for your permission Ronald. Just like you're not asking for Harry's. I'm going with you. I can look after myself."

"Ginny, wouldn't you rather spend time with your family? You still barely know them." Hermione tried to be the voice of reason.

"I'm going with you!" Ginny said, staying firm. "My family will still be there when I get back. Besides, I would rather get to know them without having to worry about whatever it is that Voldemort's up to at the moment."

"You understand how dangerous this is?" Ginny was surprised by Harry's question. She looked up, into his eyes, and noticed for the first time just how deep, and green they were.

"I do."

"I for one would love to have your company." Harry smiled, and Ginny couldn't help but beam back. There was something to be said for that. He didn't tell her no. He didn't say there was no way she was going to go with them. He didn't even try to dissuade her.

"Exa-WHAT?" Ron turned to his best friend with a glower. "You're supposed to be on my side!" He said.

"We can keep her safe. And she's right, she can look after herself." Harry said. Harry moved his head to the side slightly, and Ginny took that as a hint to leave the compartment for a while, so she did.

Unlocking the door, Ginny stepped out, and let the trio argue, knowing that with Harry on her side there's no way Ron and Hermione could disagree.

Walking down the corridor, Ginny wondered how long she should leave the trio arguing. Her thoughts concentrating on this, she let her body go on auto, one foot in front of the other, in a straight line, through the corridor. She didn't think to allow for variables such as people in the corridor, so it shouldn't have really been that surprising for her when she bumped into someone.

"Sorry." She said, even though she was the one who fell to the ground, and he stood towering over her. Ginny didn't look beyond the hand that was extended down to help her up. When she stood facing the person she bumped into, she wanted to shout and scream. She wanted to hex him, and throw things at him. She wanted to punch, kick and hit him. And, despite herself, she wanted to collapse into his arms and let him comfort her.

Yet instead, Ginny did the one thing that she didn't want to do. She turned around, and she ran back where she came from.

This time Ginny bumped into someone else. Someone much more welcome. Harry helped her up, and gave her a goofy lopsided grin.

"You alright? Looks like you're running from a ghost."

Ginny grimaced. "Dr-Malfoy actually." That was what Harry and his friends called him. That was what she would call him. She would force herself to get over him, if she had to. She needed to get over him.

"Ouch." Harry said, and looked behind her. Ginny knew Draco hadn't followed her. "Well, they're not happy about it, but they've agreed to not entirely reject the idea."

"Ugh." Ginny said, and Harry gave her another goofy lopsided grin.

"Umm, Ginny?"

"Mm?"

"I uhh, well I know it's probably too soon... But I uhh, I really like you. And I was wondering if..."

"Yes." Ginny said. She knew where Harry was going. She didn't need to hear him say it. Ginny said yes because she wanted to spite Draco. She said yes because she wanted to get over Draco. And she said yes because she knew that Harry was a good person.

"That's great." Harry gave her a goofy full on grin, and Ginny felt it tug at her heartstrings. Harry gave her a hug, and the two walked back to the compartment together.

**A/N:** Well, quick update for ya :D Sorta in the writing mood, and no idea how to start this original piece I'm trying to work on D=  
Next chapter should be up probably within the next week. I'm not going to guarantee that. It might be up tomorrow. It might be up one week from now. If I get really really horrible again, it might be up a month from now. Please continue to review people. I love your reviews. Speaking of reviews, sorry to JulieMalfoyZabini for any confusing things, and repeating things. I tend to write confusing sometimes. My mind knows the story, and my fingers know a different story, and the two have to work together and they don't always get along. I try to make it as readable and as non-confusing as I can, but I fail a lot of the time :S


	22. Chapter Twenty One

Ginny looked at herself in the mirror. The dress she was wearing was gold. Her shoulders were bare, and the sleeves reached her wrists, ending in gold lace which encompassed her hands. The swell of her chest was easily noticeable as white against the low cut gold, and it hugged her waist before falling to the ground in what looked like waves.

Hermione had spent ten minutes with her hair. It was now half up, half down, her naturally wild curls tamed into perfect ringlets by magic. Her eyes seemed to glow with an intensity all their own, and stood out brightly against the pale white of her face. Hermione had helped her with her makeup, and she had pale pink almost pale purple lipstick on, and matching eye shadow.

"Have you got my clothes in that bag of yours?" Ginny asked, when Hermione declared her ready for the wedding. Hermione smiled at her friend, and opened the small beaded bag she had with her to show Ginny.

"Thanks for helping me with the spell on this, by the way." Hermione said, and Ginny beamed.

"No problem!" Ginny then helped fix Hermione's hair and makeup, which took another ten minutes, then the two witches went to help the bride and her sister.

Gabriella was wearing the twin to Ginny's dress, though it worked even better with her white-blonde hair. While Ginny helped style Fleur's hair perfectly, Hermione did the same to Gabriella.

"Magneeficent!" Fleur declared when she saw the result. "Wonder workers!" She embraced Ginny, and kissed both of her cheeks before repeating the process for Hermione.

"I'd better get going, and help with seating guests. I'll send you a patronus when you need to get ready."

"Thanks, Mione." Ginny said. Ginny then sat down carefully, so as not to crush the carefully arranged falling fabric of her dress, and waited. Finally the bright silver beaver appeared, and

Hermione's clear voice told them that everyone was seated, and the bridal march would start soon.

Ginny and Gabriella timed their steps perfectly, left foot, then right foot. They reached the tent together, and they walked through the tent together, as the bridal march began. Everyone oooh'd and aaah'd as they saw Fleur walk past. Ginny had noticed a few men and boys with dropped jaws over her and Gabriella's appearances, but that was nothing compared to how everyone reacted when they saw Fleur.

Fleur was normally beautiful, but on her wedding day she looked stunning. The silver goblin tiara on her head looked perfect with the silver white of her hair, which perfectly matched her dress. She truly did look like a flower, like some positively perfect lily someone had found.

Ginny could tell that most of the men were jealous of Bill, while most of the women were envious of Fleur. But a spell Ginny had weaved into the others while perfectly placing Fleur's hairs made Fleur's beauty shine out on everyone nearby.

When Fleur stood next to Bill, he looked just as perfect as she did, even with the scars on his face, he looked like a new man, and Ginny was glad to see everyone melt when they saw this.

When the ceremony was over, Bill led Fleur in the first dance, and as custom, Ginny and Gabriella danced with the best men. Charlie danced with Gabriella, and Ginny danced with Fleur's father.

Ginny had gotten to know Mr Delacour since he had arrived, and she knew him to be a good man, very much like her oldest brother.

When the first dance was over, Ginny excused herself, and found Harry, sitting next to Luna.

"Hello." Luna smiled. "You look dazzling today, even out of the beauty spell the new Mrs Weasley is shining on everyone."

"Thank you." Ginny responded, not even bothering to ask Luna how she knew about the beauty spell. Ginny didn't know Luna very well, but she had begun to suspect that there was a lot more to Luna than met the eye.

Everyone always assumed Luna was, well, the nickname Loony Lovegood said it all. But Ginny knew that Luna wouldn't be in the Ravenclaw house for nothing. Besides, from what she'd seen of Luna in the classes they'd had together, Luna was a positively brilliant witch, if a bit eccentric.

Harry gave Ginny a quick kiss on the cheek. Harry had taken a polyjuice potion before the wedding, and Ginny saw him now as a slightly round redheaded boy who looked glum despite his naturally cheerful expression.

Ginny looked up quickly as soon as she saw the lynx patronus. A voice she vaguely recognised as Kingsley Shacklebolt, a member of the Order of the Phoenix, sounded louder than life coming from the Lynx's mouth, saying "The ministry is fallen. The minister for magic is dead."

Hermione, who had been dancing with Ron, pulled him quickly over to where Ginny was sitting with Harry. The four apparated away just as Death Eaters began to apparate in.

Hermione had apparated the four of them to a busy square. She quickly pulled them into an alley and thrust some clothes to Ron, and the invisibility cloak to Harry.

"Ginny, get under there as well." Hermione said, and Ginny did so. Hermione had been easy to convince to let Ginny come with them. Ron was the only one who still didn't want her there, but outvoted, he let her come, though on the condition that she stay out of sight as much as possible.

"Come on. There's a café just down the street. We'll go there and figure out what to do over some coffee." Hermione said when Ron had changed, much to his embarrassment in front of his sister and two best friends.

Hermione led the way, with Ron walking beside her. Harry and Ginny were just a few seconds behind them, not wanting to lose them, and not wanting to run into anyone.

Someone whistled from across the street.

"Why don't you ditch Red and come have a good time with me, gorgeous?" Someone called out, amongst catcalls, and more whistles from some construction workers. Ginny could see Hermione's hand clamping down on Ron's in an effort to remain in control.

It wasn't long before we were in the café. Hermione waited just long enough for Harry and I to slide into the booth before her before she slid in next to us, and Ron slid in across from her.

"Can I help you at all?" A bored looking waitress asked. It looked like she was more interested in working on the piece of gum between her teeth than in interacting with or serving customers.

"Could I please have two cappuccinos?" Hermione asked, and the waitress moved away. Ginny wondered for a moment whether or not the waitress even took their order, but then she didn't really care.

"Okay, so Voldemort's taken over the ministry." Hermione said as soon as the waitress walked away, her voice low. "We need to figure out where to go next."

"I reckon Grimauld place." Ron said. Hermione bit her lip.

"But Snape could get there." Ginny had, of course, since learned that Snape had killed Dumbledore (A/N: Spoiler alert. Snape kills Dumbledore _)

"I don't think so." Harry said. "Moody-" He swallowed. "Moody said he set up traps for him. Besides, we can hold our own against him." Though he tried to sound confident when he said this, all four of them knew he wasn't sure about it.

"Okay then, let's have these bloody coffees, then we'll go there." Ron said, and Ginny was glad he couldn't see her rolling her eyes. She knew he was just happy to be getting his own way.

As he said that, two large men walked into the café. Watching them through the shimmering fabric of the invisibility cloak, Ginny glanced at them, but she'd never seen either of them before.

The waitress came then, and put two cups of what looked like dirty dishwater on the table, before walking over to the two new entrants, and asking them for their order.

Harry was the first to react. He had seen one of the men before, and hadn't taken his eyes off of him, unlike Ginny, who had turned her attention to the disgusting looking coffee.

Harry jumped up and cast the disarming spell moments before Ginny joined him with a stunning spell, aimed at the other man. Seconds later Ron and Hermione both jumped up, both sending stunning curses. Ron's hit the waitress, and Hermione's hit the man who was standing looking at his empty hand.

"Quick, let's obliviate their memory and get out of here." Hermione said. Ginny helped her, while Harry and Ron searched through the Death Eater's pockets.

"Ron, now's not the time to suddenly decide on a life of crime." Ginny said.

"Here." Ron said, as an explanation, and handed Harry the wallet of the guy he had been searching, while Harry pulled out a wallet of his own.

"Let's grab their ID's and wands, and get out of here." Harry said, looking through the wallets until he found both Death Eater's ID's, and then grabbed their wands.

"What in Merlin's name is this for?" Hermione asked, pursing her lips.

"Harry and I were up late last night, and we thought it would be best if we had a bit of an edge on the Death Eaters. Having these will tell us who they are, and they'll be down as well."

"I forbid it." Hermione said. Though she thought about it for a moment. "But check their names, and break their wands. We don't want to have anything of theirs with us." Harry split into a grin, and handed the ID's to Ginny. Ginny didn't bother asking why. They all knew about her memory. Ginny glanced at the ID's before passing them back, and helped Ron break the two wands.

"Come on then, let's hurry up and get to Grimauld Place." Hermione said. "Though I want to try doing it under the cloak. It's going to be hard with four people..."

"I'll perform a disillusionment charm." Ginny said, and Hermione nodded. Ginny quickly performed the charm, before taking Harry's hand, just as he slipped under the coat with the others.

Hermione sharply turned, bringing the other three along with her apparation.

Soon enough, they were in the living area of number twelve Grimauld Place, and all four fell asleep on the floor.

**A/N:** I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who dislikes that Ginny/Harry pairing. But don't worry, goslings, *yes, I just called all of my readers, or rather reviewers, goslings*, if Ginny and Harry were meant to be a couple in this story, the main male character in this story would be Harry, not Draco.

For the next chapter I'm going to try something different. As to what that different thing is, you're just going to have to wait and see. Though if my writing streak continues, you probably won't have too long to wait. I'll probably start it tonight *which there's half an hour left of* and finish it and upload it tomorrow night xD

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and as always, please review. For every review I get a kitten won't die.


	23. Chapter Twenty Two

"Look at yourself Draco. You're a failure. A miserable failure." Draco said, as he looked at the bathroom wall. Or rather, the gigantic enchanted mirror that took up the entirety of the bathroom wall.

"You know, if you just fix up your hair a bit, and maybe pay more attention to your clothes, and your skin.. Is that a pimple? Ewwwwwwww." Draco rolled his eyes at his reflection. As much as he hated the superficial ramblings of the enchanted mirror, sometimes hearing the sound of a voice he didn't have to pay attention to helped him think.

Settling himself down on the floor, his forehead pressing up against the mirror, the reflection Draco continued to ramble on about the pimple, while Draco let his thoughts take him away.

As always, his thoughts took him back to the last day of school. The memory seemed even more vivid now that he was going back there tomorrow. He remembered seeing her, across the hall, and wanting desperately to run to her, to embrace her, to whisper to her that he was sorry. That he was oh, so sorry.

But he had let Blaise's hand on his arm stop him. He remembers the next day, when she ran into him. He saw her there, sprawled out on the ground in front of him. He helped her up, but when she saw him... A tear trickled down Draco's cheek. How could he hurt this much over someone?

"Draco, would you come out please? Your father would like to speak to you." Narcissa Malfoy's words broke into Draco's reverie, and he snapped out of it. Sighing, Draco stood up, and left his reflection, to yell at him to put some acne cream on.

Draco went upstairs to where his father sat in his library.

"Oh good, you're here." Lucius Malfoy said, as he surveyed his only son and heir. "I haven't seen much of you this summer." Lucius frowned. There was someone else he hadn't seen that summer, but the thought eluded him. While Narcissa had honestly wept about the loss of Ginny, Lucius hadn't really cared much about the girl who his son had been obsessed with.

"I haven't really been about." Draco said, and Lucius took a deeper look at his son. All of Lucius's coolness came to an abrupt halt as he studied the hollow look on his son's face. For the first time since he had surveyed the slightly pink bundle of supposed joy in his wife's arms, Lucius really paid attention to his son.

"What's bothering you." Draco raised an eyebrow. He felt sure his father had to be up to something. He never bothered with "pleasantries" as he put them. In other words, he just didn't give a second thought to anyone not himself.

"Gin-I-You don't really care." Draco said, before looking down again.

"I don't, really, but from listening to your mother for all these years I've gathered that it's supposed to help to talk about what bothers you."

"I..." Draco didn't know what to say to that. His father wasn't the most honest of men. In the way he made his living, he stored dark items in secret hiding places in his manor, and he bribed most of the ministry and most of the people in high places to like him. To here his father speaking the plain and honest truth endeared him to Draco somewhat, so Draco began to explain, about how much he loved Ginny, and about how Ginny hated Voldemort and the dark side.

"Look, I'm not going to pretend I'm the best at all this love and teenage drama and... well, I'm not going to pretend I'm the best father in the world. But I'm going to give you some advice. Long before you were born, back when I was still in school, I met a woman. She was perfect in every way. She had strong opinions, and she disapproved of the dark side.

"Well, once, we snuck out and got drunk on Firewhiskey... If you do that I'll skin you alive... We were drunk on Firewhiskey, and we started talking about the future. We were both in arranged marriages, but we were young at the time, and as in love as two young people could be... Well, she came up with the idea that we just elope.

"But I knew my family would be furious if I broke the marriage contract we had with the Blacks. So... I refused her." For the first time in his life, Draco saw a tear slide down his father's cheek. An honest to Merlin tear. That made his eyes open wide.

"And I've regretted it ever since... Sure, I care for your mother. She's been a good wife to me all these years. She's kept my bed warm, and given me a son and heir, who I can see now is growing up. The way I see it, you have a choice. You can either choose to find her, and hold onto her no matter what consequences, or difficulties come your way, or you can take the easier, but sadder path, and follow in my footsteps.

"I want you to know, that if you choose the latter, I won't think you any less of a man. After all, I did the same. You can marry Astoria, as you were originally meant to, and dedicate your life to the dark arts. But I want you to know, that I support your decision either way, and I will try and help you as much as I can."

Draco's mouth was open. He couldn't help it. Not only was he learning about this whole other side to his father... His father was offering to help him. Help him turn his back on Voldemort, and, given Ginny's situation, possibly even fight against Voldemort, and his own father...

"I'm not going back to school this year." Draco said, hope coming back into his heart, shining like a light through his silver grey eyes. "Thank you." Draco did something no Malfoy had ever done before. He hugged his father, and kissed the man's cheek. "Thank you." He repeated, before flying down the stairs.

Narcissa was in the study, looking glum as she had all summer. Without looking up, Narcissa's expression suddenly changed. She hadn't heard Draco running in the house since Ginny had been there. Looking up, she almost expected to see the two of them standing before her, chests heaving, grins plastered on their faces, about to ask her permission to go somewhere, or do something.

Even though there was only Draco, her smile didn't falter. The look of such hope on his face cheered her. They didn't need to speak. Draco's smile was enough to tell her what had happened, just as her smile was enough to tell him she approved.

"Get a good night's rest then." Narcissa said. "I'll have the house elves get you everything you'll need, and tell them to put it in your room for you, while you're sleeping."

"Thank you, mother." Draco said, and embraced his mother, which wasn't anywhere near as shocking to his mother as it had been to his father.

Draco did as his mother suggested, despite his racing mind. He never usually went to bed this early, but he agreed with his mother. A good night's sleep would probably be a good idea.

Tossing and turning, Draco decided to count gnomes. 1 gnome. 2 gnomes. 3 gnomes. 4 gnomes. 5 Debby's. Debby's? Draco realised his eyes were opened and that one of the house elves, Debby, and been leaping over his bed silently.

"Debby, what are you doing?"

"Young Master was counting gnomes using his imagination. Debby just thought if he could count Debby's maybe that would help." Draco sighed. Ever since Ginny had found out she was a Weasley, and had become friends with the mud... muggle born... Granger... Hermione, she had taken a stance against using house elves. Draco had tried to be supportive of that, even though he knew that house elves loved working.

"Hey, Debby?"

"Yes Young Master?"

"Would you like being free, like your brother?"

"Sometimes, Young Master, Debby things, that if she were free like Dobby, Debby wouldn't have anything to do. Debby likes working for Young Master, and Young Mistress, when she's home. Debby also likes working for Mistress. If it weren't for Master, Debby would never even think about being free. And sometimes Debby thinks of Dobby, and thinks he'd be the same."

"Thank you Debby."

"Would Young Master like Dabby to help Debby for Young Master to count to aid in Young Master's sleep?"

"No thank you, Debby. What I would like, is for you to start calling me Draco, instead of young master, or even refer to me as "you". I would also like for you to refer to Ginny as Ginny, instead of young mistress, and I would like for you to tell Dabby, Dibby and Dubby to do the same."

"Yes you-, Draco." Debby said, and smiled, before apparating downstairs. A world of firsts, Debby explained to her sisters and brother, as Draco had asked her to do, and proudly, with her chest puffed out, said that he thanked her.

After that Draco returned to counting gnomes, and eventually managed to nod off.

As promised, Draco had everything he needed upon waking. Everything had been packed in a bag enchanted to took like a small backpack, but hold as much as he needed stored. When he went downstairs, to say goodbye to his mother, she embraced him, and held him tight.

"Find her, and hold on no matter what." Narcissa said, as she pulled away from her son. Draco smiled at his mother, and, shouldering his backpack, apparated out of the Malfoy Manor.

A lot of Draco's sleeplessness the previous night had stemmed from his wondering where he should go first. When he had woken up, the answer had hit him. So, while it didn't feel or sound like any particularly huge adventure, Draco soon found himself at the public library in London.

Far larger than the entire castle of Hogwarts, the wizard library exists in the very centre of London, spelled by the first librarian to be hidden from Muggles, in a unique but lost way. Where the Ministry of Magic existed underground, and St Mungo's existed inside a supposedly abandoned building, and underground, the public library existed in a completely different time. And underground.

The first librarian had existed some time in the really early years of wizardry. Many spells, such as Wingardium Leviosa, were attributed to him. He had also created the first time turner. Everyone who has since replicated the time turner has no actual understanding of the delicate spell it possesses, but the first librarian did. So the first librarian, upon making his library, a lifelong dream of his, burned it down, with him inside it, right after the last book had been placed squarely on the last remaining open shelf space.

The library in those days had been tiny, and existed in a small, virtually non-existant town. The wizards of the town, who had been excited to have a wizarding library, had all been devastated when it burned down. Until, that is, they saw the librarian, now and then, in the bookstore, looking through the books.

They first suspected he was a ghost, but when he purchased a book, they realised that wasn't true.

What the librarian had done, in a very complicated spell, was freeze time. Because the library was an object, and not a person, the librarian tied the library to his blood. That being done, as long as the librarian still existed, the library would continue to exist. Being bound, the librarian had an easy way back to where the library existed. For everyone else, he created portkeys.

However, the portkeys never worked the way he intended. Instead of taking them through time and space to the library, the portkeys merely took people to the place where the library was.

The librarian tried combining the portkeys with time magic, but that failed. In the end, the librarian made portkeys that were combined with his blood.

Being that the library is frozen in time, as long as he stays in the library, the first librarian won't age. Occasionally he leaves the library, to gather any and all new books, muggle and magic alike, the first librarian ages the time that he was out there. Lately, having grown a few years old in all the centuries and centuries of coming out to buy new books, people brought news of the outside world with them instead, or brought all new books, to the library, so the librarian could continue to exist, and therefore the library could continue to exist, outside of time.

Inside the public library in London, Draco went to the secret wizarding section, which was underground.

In here, Draco went straight to a table that was piled high with books. He threw a couple of unique books Debby had packed for him from his father's library. How the elf had known he was going to go to the library, he hadn't a clue, but the elf tucked a list of everything that was in his backpack in his pocket, and Draco had been glad to see the books, knowing how helpful that would be to the wizarding library.

"You here, or going with the next lot?" The librarian behind the counter asked.

"Going with the next lot." Draco said, and the librarian gestured to his right. Draco turned, and saw the raised stage which he knew to be a portkey. Taking off his shoes, Draco stepped onto it, joining a group of people already on it.

A couple of first timers, by the looks of it, even with their shoes off were bending down so they could touch the wooden platforms.

As well as them, there was someone who was sitting down, their hands flatly on the floor. Draco chuckled. First timers were always funny.

"Get ready for depature. All books will be given back to you when you enter the great wizarding library, as some of you already know. For those who don't, we assure you, you will be able to hand your books over yourself." This was the third time in Draco's life he had heard this speech.

"Please everyone hold on, and the journey will be over quickly. All seasickness is completely normal, and any and all erectile dysfunction is only temporary." Draco chuckled at the joke, just as he had the sudden sensation that his feet were clued to the floor. The room started spinning around Draco, and as always he closed his eyes.

The first sensation that told Draco he was in the library was when he suddenly couldn't breathe. He knew that this was because breathing takes time, and pushes the library forward in time. His lungs were full, and his body frozen. A minute later, while he listened to the first timers panicking, the time lock was gone, and while his body functions were still frozen, he could move. He wasn't able to breathe, but he didn't need to.

Walking off of the platform, Draco stepped off, and was handed back the bundle of ten books he had added to the table in the public library. Walking forward, he reached the counter, and handed the books to the librarian.

"Gifts, from me to you, for letting me use your amazing library." Draco said. The librarian glanced at the books and his eyes went wide.

"Why, these are ancient! They're one of a kinds! And nobody ever thought to bring them to me before?" Draco spent a few minutes acting properly ashamed. When the librarian had finally gotten over the wonderful treasure that the books were, he asked Draco what he wanted, since other library patrons were already lining up behind Draco, curious as to what the wait was for.

"Where is your prophesy section?" Draco asked.

**A/N**: Aaaaaaand I'm leaving it there. What do you think? Review, goslings, review. Also thank you for the reviews I got for the last chapter ^^ made my day(s).  
Sorry for the time it took. (Though compared to some other chapters this has taken no time at all) I was actually finished yesterday, but then I got a review, right as I was about to write my Author's Note, and that made me look closer at my writing and decide I wanted more. Originally this chapter finished just after Draco fell asleep. And now he's in the wizarding library :O. xD  
Hope you enjoyed the chapter, not sure when the next one will be up, I'm babysitting for a couple of weeks. I may decide to torture you, like I'll be tortured, and not update, but then I may also decide to relieve you of your torture and update fast and heaps.


	24. Chapter Twenty Three

Draco had been in the library for a week. Or so his watch said. Thanks to the spells on the library, he neither grew older, nor needed to eat or drink, just like he didn't need to breathe.

As he had never been in the library over an hour before, he was astonished at this. He neither felt hungry, nor thirsty, nor even tired. When he looked at his watch for the first time, just checking on the real world, even when he was surrounded by books he still had to get through, it had said it was three thirty am, two days after he had left.

The pile to Draco's right contained every book with even the slightest mention of a prophesy in it. The pile to Draco's left contained all of these books that he had flipped through. Draco really didn't want to look through the books in too much detail. He knew how long that would take, and he desperately wanted to drop the books and run to Ginny unprepared as it was.

The piles to Draco's sides continued to fluctuate, as he took or added one, and as the Librarian came to check on him, adding a new book or two here, taking a few books there. Occasionally Draco added a few notes to a book which remained opened at his side through all of this.

Sighing, Draco added the next book to the pile on his left, and reached for the next book from the pile on his right, as he looked down at his notes. Rubbish, really. Even he could tell. Now and then, very rarely, he had seen reference to a phoenix that was a person. He had written everything down, but looking at it all together, none of it made sense.

Most of the lines referred to the phoenix as female, but one or two referred to the phoenix as male. Draco opened the book now on his lap, and began flipping through pages, and scanning them for any sign of the word phoenix.

And so he continued. Another week passed, and he remained just as in the know, which is to say, not at all.

"Have you heard the news yet?" A rather old man asked the librarian, as the man dug around in the books.

"What news? If it's not in the papers I probably haven't heard it yet."

"Ah, well this one won't be in the papers, I'll be guessing. You know the Potter kid? Son of Lily and James? Name of harry? Well, now, he's been awful famous growing up, he has, but he's been in a spot of trouble here and there now."

"Would you just get to it? I already know everything about him and you-know-who." Draco felt a tingle of disappointment as he realised even the librarian was scared of Voldemort. Mind you, of course he would be. If the snatchers came and took him away from the library and he died, the library would be gone. Of course, the snatchers wouldn't tell Voldemort they had the First Librarian, and the snatchers who took him would probably pay by being tortured for weeks before finally given the mercy of death.

"And you knew you-know-who's taken over the ministry?"

"Of course. I'd have to be as blind as a new babe to not recognise that." The librarian grimaced. "Demand me to work on spells to allow books out of the library, my bullocks. They're all exactly where they aught to be."

"Well, then, the Potter kid, and a couple of his friends, a mudblood named Granger, and a redhead named Weasley broke into the ministry, and of all things, stole a locket from the Umbridge woman?"

"That ghastly woman who wanted to take all of my books on halfbreeds out, in the knowledge that they would burn upon exiting the library?"

"That would be the one." The librarian shivered. Anyone who would willfully destroy any sort of book was in the bad books with him. Draco hid a smile, as he realised that the librarian would probably be more than happy to help him, as much as he could.

"So what happened?"

"What do you mean what happened? I just told you what happened, I did. They broke into the ministry and stole the Umbridge woman's necklace."

"I thought you said it was a locket."

"It was a locket which hung 'round her neck, also known as a necklace. And here I thought you was smart." Despite his words, the old man seemed to be a bit put off. There was just something in the librarians eyes, which didn't sit right by him.

"How'd they do it? Did they get away? Does anyone know why?"

"They pretended to be ministry officials. As ministry officials they went about their daily business. A couple of people on their side even hinted at them doing better than the ministry officials. Imagine. Well, they did their business, and then they revealed themselves as they tried to make their escape. Something about a missing eye gave them away. And they managed to escape. Darn blighters. All four of them."

Draco's eyes went wide as he heard that last part. All four of them. To be sure, that could have meant two things. That could have meant that the trio had enlisted Longbottom's help, and Longbottom had been the only one lucky enough to not be identified, or...

"The four of them? I thought you said Potter only traveled with two companions. Granger and Weasley?"

"Well, yeah, 'cept the fourth one was unidentified. He remained in the shape of the ministry official even as they escaped."

"I thought you were keeping an eye on the Weasleys? How could one of them get into that sort of position without you knowing?" The old man fidgeted a bit under the librarian's stare. Draco hid a smile, at what the librarian was trying to do. In order to get as much information, the librarian was acting like he was on the same side.

"Well, that's the thing, innit? The Weasley he was with was the long lost sister to Potter's best friend Ron Weasley. No one knew about her."

"What sort of brother, even a long lost one, is that kind of dumb that he'd let his sister do dangerous things with his best friends, while he sits under watch of the ministry, doing naught to help?" Draco could here the righteous indignation in the Librarian's voice, even while he was fuming at the thought.

"One seriously ill with Spattergroit*."

"What about the other Weasley brothers then? I thought all the Weasleys were friends to Potter."

"Ah, but they're all accounted for. The only Weasley with Potter, is the young Ginny Weasley."

The words swam inside Draco's head for hours, while he stared at the book. The books to his right grew as the books to his left shrank, but he took no notice of it. When the librarian came back the tenth time, he settled himself in a chair opposite Draco's.

"So you're in love with this Virginia Weasley?"

"Ginevra." Draco said, automatically, barely taking any notice of the librarian's words, before his head snapped up in a flash as he realised what he said. "How do you...?"

"You simply can't live as many years as I have without learning a thing or two about love. And you can't live as many years as I have without learning to recognise small hints."

Draco frowned.

"Let me show you. You're looking through prophesy's, and given that you're taking down notes, I can guess that you're not trying to find a specific one, so much as find all details about a specific one, or all mentions of a specific person. The only such person I can imagine, who pops up in so many prophesy's, is the phoenix, the saviour.

"Now, you wouldn't be going through so much trouble, it's been two weeks after all, since you first arrived, unless you really thought that this information could somehow help someone very close to you. You haven't read a single word since Macnair has been here, and I saw your face both when it was revealed that one of his companions was a redheaded girl named Ginevra Weasley, and when you must have heard about her brother not being there."

The librarian seemed pleased with himself, to the point of being smug, and for a moment Draco felt like punching the smugness right off of his face.

"Correct." Draco eventually said.

"Well, then, how about a little assitance? Hand me that book." The librarian gestured to the one Draco had been writing in. Draco handed it over.

Flipping a page, to find a new one, the librarian began to write. And write. And write.

Draco gave up watching the librarian write. When the librarian was finished, he slid the book back to Draco.

"All you ever need to know about the phoenix. In the correct order, I believe." He tilted his head to the side, and considered for a moment.

"Yes, that's in the order that it should be." Draco's eyes widened, and he almost snapped the book up from the librarian's hands to devour it right then and there.

"Thank you." Draco said, and he meant it.

"Happy to help." The librarian smiled, and tapped the side of his head. "A good memory is a key to being a good reader. Now, while you're still here, is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No thanks." Draco smiled, and shook his head, as he closed his book and slid it into his bag. "This has been more than enough help."

"Well, do come back anytime you want more help. And if you want to give me news about the outside world, like this Ginevra of yours." Draco smiled, and told the librarian he would, as he stood on the platform once more.

Draco let his mind wonder about where he should go next. Ginny wasn't in Hogwarts, so that plan was ruined. And she was on the run with Potter, Granger, and probably Longbottom. The boys were probably useless, but Draco knew that between Granger-Hermione, and Ginny they could come up with some above average protection spells.

"Maybe I should go back home again." Draco muttered to himself.

"I would say that's an excellent idea. Your mother is probably worried sick about you."

"Hello, auntie Bella."

"Why didn't you go back to Hogwarts like the other good girls and boys?"

"I don't need to finish my schooling, auntie. Father said that he could get me a place with the Dark Lord."

"Oh, you are a good boy, aren't you?" Bella said, squeezing Draco's cheek, much to his chagrin. "But not until you're seventeen. As soon as we get you back home, you're going to Hogwarts."

"Alright, Auntie."

As it turned out, Draco had his way. When they arrived back at the Malfoy Manor, Narcissa swept her son up in her arms, and kissed his forehead, right in front of her sister. Though what Bellatrix didn't notice, was Narcissa's asking about Ginny, and Draco's response about not yet.

Narcissa was more than happy to have her son continue to stay at the manor, instead of going to school, and while Bellatrix originally planned to contest that, she gave up when Voldemort agreed with Narcissa.

"You're right. Even with the improvements being made, Hogwarts still has a far way to go to reach a standard that we want our kids to go to. Besides, you're right. Six years of studying is more than enough. It's all Potter and his Mudblood friend have. And the Weasley girl hasn't even had that much." Draco could feel Voldemort's eyes on him when he mentioned Ginny.

"Didn't she used to come around here, on the holidays?" He asked. "I felt sure Lucius mentioned something of the sort after I first attacked the girl outside Kings Cross."

"Yes, she used to. But then she found out she was a Weasley." Draco said. "Haven't really seen her since."

"I see. Well, good to know you still have standards, my boy. Now then." The meeting continued, and Voldemort went back to spending most of his time ignoring Draco, along with the rest of the Malfoys, which truly suited them just fine. The only one who seemed to have any problem with Voldemort ignoring them was Bellatrix, who occasionally felt the need to lean across the table, pushing herself closer to Voldemort, fling her dark curly hair back over one shoulder, and laugh at something, or say that something is a simply marvelous idea.

Draco wanted to throw up.

Draco certainly wasn't upset when Voldemort left, now and then. Though the amount of time that passed, with no word about what was happening with Ginny worried him. He heard something about some snatchers who had caught a red head claiming to be Stan Shunpike, and he thought that maybe Ron was trying to find his sister and best friends as well.

When he heard about what happened in Godric's Hollow, his heart froze.

The news came with Voldemort flinging himself into the manor and sending as many destructive spells as he could towards all of the precious Malfoy belongings.

"Oh, Master, Master, what happened?" Bellatrix asked, as she joined him in destroying the Malfoy belongings, while the three Malfoy's stood there staring.

"Potter escaped me! I knew he'd go back to Godric's Hollow. I just knew it! And when Nagini saw two girls and a boy with messy black hair looking at the Potter Memorium... She trapped him. She had him trapped. She was going for the kill when..." Voldemort exploded the chandelier. "The stupid Weasley had to come up and apparate him away!"

"What about the trace? Master? Isn't she under seventeen?"

"Yes, but the cursed witch found some way to remove the damned thing."

Draco felt his father's gaze pass by him, and tilted his head slightly. He'd known that Ginny had removed the trace. Hell, he'd provided the back up assistance she had needed to remove it.

"What now, Master?" Bellatrix asked, as she scattered the bits of shattered crystal everywhere even while Narcissa called Dabby to clean it up.

"They'll have to make a move eventually. They won't go back to Godric's Hollow now, but they'll make a move sometime."

It was torture for Draco waiting for the next move. As it turns out, the next move was initialized by Voldemort. When school holidays officially started, he seemed to get a twinkle in his red eyes. He ordered Death Eaters to go to the Hogwarts Express, and before Draco knew it, there were two prisoners in the Malfoy dungeons.

Ollivander had been there since Voldemort had first moved into the Malfoy Manor, and when Draco had come back it had been his job to occasionally take food down to him. And now Luna Lovegood joined him.

"I'll get you out of here somehow." Draco always said as he gave the blonde girl food.

"You really deserve her... Even if you don't think so sometimes." Luna said one time, as Draco managed to get something more substantial than bread and water down to the two prisoners. He knew he wouldn't be missed, so he had cast some light out in the room, and sat with the two.

"What?"

"You should have seen her at the wedding. She looked beautiful." Luna sighed. "I can see her at your wedding. Can I be a bridesmaid? I think I will be, but I can't be sure. She should wear white.

Make sure she wears white. She'll look stunning as she walks down the aisle, in white. Something old, something in a ball gown style. And no sleeves. Her shoulders should be bare. She has pretty shoulders."

"Okay..." Draco said, not sure how he felt about that.

"And you will wear navy blue. It will work excellent with your eyes and your..." Luna trailed off, and bit her lip. Draco watched her as she started chewing on her lip, a dreamy expression on herself.

"And my what?" He prompted. Luna looked at him, turning her wide blue gaze toward him, and Draco shivered. Looking into those eyes, Luna didn't look like the crazy girl he remembered from school. She looked perfectly competent, like the Ravenclaw witch she was supposed to be.

"Your aura." Luna eventually said, and looked happier after saying it.

"You can see aura's?" Draco asked. The ability to see auras was rare. Usually found in exceptional psychics. He remembered her words about his wedding Ginny.

"Luna, do you sometimes..." He started, but stopped. He didn't want to know. If Luna said no, he felt sure his heart might break.

Instead, Draco just shook his head, and left Luna and Ollivander to the first actual meal they've had in weeks.

Draco felt happier than he had in a while, and he allowed himself to believe that Luna was psychic, that she had seen Ginny walking down the aisle in a white dress.

**A/N:** I wanted to make this one even longer, but then I decided I didn't want to leave you too long without an update, and I'm in a pretty good mood at the moment. As soon as this one's uploaded I'll be starting on the next one, and I'll try to make it a long one, but I'll also try to upload it quickly. On second thoughts, actually, after this one I'll start the next chapter of my other story (For those of you who have only read this one, the other story that I'm really working on is These Muggle Devices, check it out if you want ^^) Which I'll probably finish sometime early tomorrow morning *it's close to midnight now, so I won't say tonight.* And THEN I'll work on another one for this one. Also, this seems to be my longest chapter so far, so if I make a longer one next time you should all bow to me :P


	25. Chapter Twenty Four

~Ginny~

The thing Ron had been most annoyed about when he left, was that his sister wouldn't go with him. Now that he was back, and they were free of the locket, he was doing his best to be a good big brother.

"Would you lay off it?" Ginny growled as Ron pushed her aside in order to get firewood, which _had_ been her task for this camp ground.

"Ronald Weasley. If you don't quit trying to 'baby' me, and if you continue to not let me do anything useful, I will snap your radio in half using magic!" Ginny said when he came back. Ron froze where he sat, fiddling with his radio. He had just told Ginny to relax, and that he'd cook dinner later.

"I was just trying to-"

"No. Shut it, Ronald. I don't care what you're about to say. I've held my own here while you've been gone, and no one's said a thing, and now you're back and taking on twice the load because you 'don't want me to do anything'. Listen to me. I. Do. Not. Care. Making me do nothing won't get you back in Hermione's good books."

"What?" Ron went bright red, and looked around for the bushy haired witch.

"You heard me, Ron." Ginny's temper was beginning to calm, and as Ron looked at her he saw that her hair looked incredibly still around her, whereas moments before it had seemed to be blown about her head by an unseen and unfelt wind.

"You don't think she..."

"She doesn't know, Ron. Just... Please, don't do everything for me. I am perfectly capable of doing it myself."

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I am." Ron said. "Do you think you can help me?" A smile slowly spread on Ginny's mouth, and Ron knew that was a yes.

"Let me just get Harry. Three heads are better than one."

Harry had really been the only one ecstatic to have his best friend back. Hermione was furious with him for leaving, Ginny had been furious at him for babying her, and for leaving, and for almost dragging her with him, but the only thing Harry thought of when he saw Ron coming back was joy.

~Draco~

"Ginny should wear that silver tiara in your mother's wedding photos."

"You've seen my mother's wedding photos?"

"She looks beautiful. Ginny will look even more so. Your mother's hair was straight, and up, with the tiara. Almost like Fleur's hair had been, actually. But Ginny's should be down and curly, with the tiara as the only ornament."

"Where will it be?"

"In a church."

"A church?"

"Performed by a muggle minister. Your father won't be too happy with that, but all you need to do to stop him from complaining is remind him that if he doesn't want you to marry her, he should have married his love."

"What do you mean?"

"Molly Malfoy would have been beautiful." Draco coughed on the roast meat he had brought down.

"I'm sorry?"

"Not that she isn't beautiful, of course. But your father would have been so happy. Happier, by far, than he is now. Sometimes, there's two people in someone's life, when only one can be chosen. Molly was willing to choose your father, but he denied her, so she chose the other, and has never regretted it."

"So Ginny could just as easily move on with... Harry?"

"She'd be in a champagne coloured dress with him. She wouldn't be herself though... She'd be back to what she used to be like, with dark brown hair, and her eyes dimmed. She'll still look beautiful, but she'll have a sad beauty. She'll never be truly happy with him." Luna's eyes widened. "You need to stay safe for her." She whispered, and Draco nodded.

~Ginny~

**A/N:** In case you're wondering, I'm sorta playing around with points of view, and with the way I'm setting out the chapters in general.

"I think we should go see Xenophilius Lovegood." Hermione said.

"I think we shouldn't. Not after Godric's Hollow." Harry said.

"Look, we want to know what that symbol means, don't we?" Hermione asked.

"I know, I just think maybe we should find some other way..."

"There is no other way! Merlin forbid it! Xenophilius is definitely on our side. Right, Ron?"

"Uhh, yeah. Right."

"And if he's on our side then we should be fine. It won't be a repeat of Godric's Hollow." (**A/N:** I'm really distracted... How can I tell? Godric's Hollow, in this line, was originally Deathly Hallows. And I stared at it for ages wondering why I thought it should be Hollow, but why it wouldn't work)

"I just don't want to risk anything again." Harry said.

"Let's have a vote."

"It's two vs. two." Harry said.

"Actually, I think Hermione's right, Harry." Ginny said. Harry looked at her, before finally nodding, and accepting it.

"I guess we're going to the Lovegood's then. What's the date? I mean, do you think Luna might be home?" Harry said.

"We might see her. That would be fun." Ron said.

"Yeah. We're really doing all of this for fun." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Well, anyway, we're going tomorrow. So I guess you'd better get some rest." Harry said, before stalking off to his bed.

"Thanks for helping me, you two." Hermione whispered to the two Weasleys, though her eyes were more focused on Ron.

"Well, y'know, I think it's the right thing to do..." Said Ron. "Go to the Lovegood's, that is." Hermione raised an eyebrow, but didn't question it any further.

~Luna's P.O.V.~

(**A/N:** I usually feel more comfortable writing in first person than third person... So this story has been killer for me to do in that way, but now that I'm messing about with how it's being delivered... :3)

I could see her now, resplendent. Her dress was amazing. Corseted, encrusted with diamonds... Well, she _was_ marrying into the Malfoy's. The corset did brilliant things to her waist and to her breasts, as they were visible where the corset stopped. Underneath the corset was a ball gown style skirt, which flared out. On her feet were delicate slippers, made from glass.

She was living her childhood Cinderella dream. Next to her, I wasn't sure. The hair kept on changing. One moment it was a silken, silvery blonde. Next it was red, and very low down, with silvery highlights. One of the most gorgeous colours I have ever seen. Then it was a bushy brown. Then it was a dirty blonde.

The eyes changed just as much, though sometimes I saw my own blue eyes with silvery blonde hair, instead of the silvery eyes I knew should be there. Sometimes I was looking from the point beside her, sometimes I was looking from above, sometimes from the audience. But always she was there, smiling radiantly, her dress the same, her hair the same, her shoes the same, and the man beside her the exact same.

Only when Draco was here did I see anything really different. When he asked me, I saw the man beside her change, at the same time as her dress changed, along with her hair, her eyes, and even her smile.

Once, Draco asked me why she needed to have a white dress. I told him it was because the grey dress would be too tight. Sure, I saw her standing there, more radiant than ever, the dress the exact same except more of a silvery grey than a white colour, and well, pregnant. But I couldn't tell Draco that.

Any more than I could tell Draco that his aura was a bright gold, a rare colour indeed for an aura. I hadn't seen another like it. Dumbledore's had been silver, and Harry's was a brassy colour... But Draco's was pure cold.

And Ginny's had more colours than most. Underneath everything was red. But since I had first seen her, in our first year of Hogwarts, the red had slowly and mostly been replaced by a deep, silken silvery colour. On top of this was a violet colour, and then the usual colours that spiked, now and then, for her feelings.

"What would have happened... if..." Draco's voice trailed off, but I knew what he was asking.

Darkness. A bleak world. Despair.

I felt Draco's hands on my shoulders, and felt Mister Ollivander's intense gaze on me.

"Are you alright, Luna? I'm sorry if I..."

"It's perfectly alright." I shuddered, remembering. "Harry would never have been born, Voldemort would have gone on undefeated... There'd have been nothing left in the world to cherish. Not that any who were left would have cherished."

"Is that's what's going to happen if..."

Dark grey eyes, deathly pale skin, hair blacker than black. Grean and silver surrounding him, his teeth sharp as he grins, his wand pointed to a muggle boy. A poor muggle boy. Innocent. A flash. Death.

"Keep your aunt away from him." I said. And I knew Draco knew what I meant, even without elaborating.

"Luna, how long have you..."

"Always. Dad used to say I was exactly like Rowena Ravenclaw. They say she used to be beset by visions as well."

"I promise I'll get you out of here." He took my hands in his and squeezed them gently before leaving, and I saw the red of pain flash in his otherwise pure aura. Pain at seeing me trapped.

I sit a while with Ollivander, and we begin to talk. We usually do. Ollivander doesn't ask anything, which I am grateful for. The visions come regardless, but they're stronger when someone asks me something.

"Goodnight, Miss Luna."

"Actually, it's morning."

**A/N:** Well, there we go. Another chapter. Now I can work on my other story, and then my other other story. I think I'm actually going to go to bed early tonight. And yes, it's actually night still. Though it'll still be morning before I go to sleep _


	26. Chapter Twenty Five

~Ginny's P.O.V.~

I brushed back my hair and nodded slowly. Before me, Hermione took a deep breath, and held out her hands to Ron and Harry. We were about to go to visit Xenophilius Lovegood. A short trip, feeling squeezed through a tiny hole, and we had apparated there. All our belongings were back in Hermione's bag, and now we were staring up at a rather oddly shaped house.

"It looks like a rook." Ron said, as we started towards it. I could tell that he was trying not to look behind him, at the Burrow, and I sighed. I was trying hard not to give in to the very same temptation.

"It looks nothing like a bird." Hermione snapped irritably. Ron still wasn't back in her good books. He wasn't particularly back in mine, either, but as I threw one glance behind me, he did earn a pang of anger from me, for having been so close to our family once more, no matter how brief that time may have been.

"It's a chess piece. You might call it a castle." Ron said. Hermione paused, feeling surprised, as she always did, when Ron knew something she didn't. But she didn't let it phase her. Instead, she just continued walking straight ahead.

Harry was the most sullen of all of us. He clearly didn't want to speak to Xenophilius Lovegood, but it was obvious that the thought of seeing Luna cheered him up somewhat.

_Keep off the dirigible plums._

I looked around, and saw what looked like orange radishes growing. I blinked. They certainly didn't look... well, natural.

"Come on, then." Harry said finally, as we stood before the towering house. He knocked on the door, and we heard a curse, followed by lots of scraping and bumping souns.

"Yes? Who is it?" Xenophilius opened the door, squinting out at us. Harry was standing closest to him, so it was no surprise when his eyes inevitably fell on his scar.

"Yes, yes, I thought you'd be round. Come on in, then, the... four? of you." He stepped aside, and gestured us in. He closed the door behind us, and led us to the kitchen. "Luna's just out catching some freshwater plimpies, she should be back soon. Could I interest you in some tea for now?"

"Sure." Hermione said. Typically english, Hermione was beginning to feel that everything could be fixed with a simple cup of tea.

Of course, none of us were expecting the beetroot red, foul-tasting, soup-like tea that was given to us after we'd alighted a flight of stairs.

We sat down where we could. I moved a pile of Quibblers away to sit on a spare bit of couch. Xenophilius himself slurped his tea as he leaned against a piece of furniture with a sheet thrown over it.

"Yes, yes, so what can I help you with?"

"Well, it's about the symbol you were wearing around your neck at the wedding." Hermione had been chosen to speak. She was the obvious choice. Harry still didn't really want to be here. Ron would have made a right arse out of himself, and I didn't particularly take to Xenophilius during our brief conversation at the wedding. If anything, it had made me rather want to pound his skull against the table. But, then, he had tried to convince me that the crumple-horned-snorcack is an endangered species, and that if I didn't help raise awareness for the amazing beast, I'd be just as good as all those people who hunted the snorcack down and cut off its horn, for their own devices.

"The symbol of the deathly hallows... What about it?"

"Deathly... Hallows?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow. "What's that?"

Xenophilius sighed, and leaned back further against the sheet-covered piece of furniture.

"Have you ever heard the tale of the three brothers?" He asked.

~Draco's P.O.V.~

I skimmed through what the librarian had written. I could almost recite it off by heart. Now, I only read it to be comforted by her memory.

Reading about her somehow helped me imagine her in the house with me. When something on the paper was obviously about her, I could almost hear her laughter. I could almost see the smile in her eyes.

I sighed, as I slammed the book shut. There had to be something. Something I had missed.

Now and then there were sightings of them. Longbottom was still at school, apparently, so that was something of a weight off of my chest. It must be one of her stupid brothers with her. They were hopeless, but Longbottom was worse. As for which brother, I could easily guess it must have been Ron, though there were never any confirmed sightings of the fourth member of their group. I simply thought that Ron had been ill with spattergroit a bit longer than the sickness usually struck for.

The last I'd heard, was still Godric's Hollow. But I knew there would have to be something again. Something soon.

Slipping the book back in my bag, ever ready, should I need to run after her, I went down to the kitchens.

Voldemort thought it funny, my spending time with the prisoners.

"Everyone has their own unique style of torture, and I must say, I do like yours." He laughed. "I've never had the patience to give them false hope before, though. I much prefer to get it over and done with. Keep it simple." He waved his wand and the last three words were written in flames before him. I'd shuddered, and nodded mutely. Better he thought I was torturing the prisoners with false hope, than he thought I actually planned to get them out of there.

Occlumency wasn't my best skill, nor my favourite, but it was certainly helpful when it came to staying alive when death eaters ran around my home as if it were theirs.

I grabbed the dinners that Debby had prepared us, and went down to the dungeons. Luna was staring at a brick, while Ollivander sat, talking to himself. I'd found out that was how he kept himself sane. He reminded himself of all the different wand types.

"I remember every wand I ever sold, Mister Malfoy, have I ever told you that?" He had said. I'd nodded, but smiled, and listened to him anyway as he told me about my wand. "Excellent for transfiguration. Though I never was sure about how you'd go with the dragon heart string."

"What torturous fare have you brought us this time, Draco?" He asked now, as he snapped out of his recitation of wand cores.

"Well, Debby decided to cook lentil lasagne tonight." I said, as I placed the tray on the ground, before sitting down. Luna scooted over and we sat in a triangle, as we quietly ate dinner together.

"Where is she?" I asked Luna. For the thousandth time. I couldn't help but ask it every time I saw her.

"She's with my dad." Luna said, surprising herself.

I jumped up as soon as I heard that.

"Where's he?" I asked, excited now that they must have been out of the countless spells they always put up to protect themselves.

After quickly explaining where her house was, Luna gave me a beam of a smile and told me to hurry. Not that I needed telling. It took me but a moment to grab my wand from my bed, and to sling my bag over my back.

And then I was gone.

Next thing I knew, I was up to my ankles in rubble. I heard a shout below me, and, looking through a hole that was right in front of me, I saw them. Well, two of them, anyway. P-Harry and Gr-Hermione both clutched what looked like the air in front of them and apparated out. Ginny and Ron must have been under the invisibility cloak.

I breathed a sigh of relief, to know that she was safe, but grimaced when I realised that I had missed her.

I went back home, and listened to the report of how Harry and Hermione had almost been caught.

Only to be woken up by cheerful stomping and some rather horrified screaming.

I wiped some sleep-goo out of my eyes and followed the sound of auntie Bella's laughter.

"Draco! You'll know!" She grabbed me, her razor sharp nails digging into my arm. She dragged me over to a rather ugly looking specimen. There were six prisoners. I immediately recognised Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Dean Thomas, another Gryffindor.

"Is this Harry Potter?" She asked, pointing to the fifth prisoner. The sixth prisoner, I noted, was a goblin. But I stared at the fifth person.

"I can't tell." I lied. It was obviously Harry. Who else would be there? Ginny or Hermione must have cast a stinging jinx at him. His face was bulbous, and you couldn't even make out where his scar was.

As soon as I'd satisfied auntie Bella that I couldn't tell her whether it was Harry or not, I looked into Ginny's eyes. I could tell that she had been doing whatever she could to avoid my eyes, but the moment I sought them out, they locked into mine. I could hear mother actually holding back tears to see the girl she so often thought of as the daughter she'd never had being held prisoner.

~Ginny's P.O.V.~

I was unaware of my surroundings as I stared into his grey eyes. How often had I looked into them, and smiled. Lately, I had tried to convince myself that I hated him. That Harry was the one I loved. But the moment my eyes looked up into his, I felt lost in his gaze.

And I knew how wrong I had been.

He'd lied to Bellatrix Lestrange, just now. Telling her that he couldn't tell it was Harry. Hermione's stinging jinx, to be fair, did hide who he was rather well, but when I looked into his eyes, I knew. I knew that Draco knew that it was Harry. He had figured out everything. Of course he had. He even had the stinging jinx down.

I was startled out of my daydream when I was pulled away abruptly, and thrown into a dungeon.

Harry, Ron, Dean, and the goblin were thrown in with me.

"HERMIONE!" Ron screamed as he tried to throw himself at the door to the dungeon.

I heard a sudden scream from outside, and knew that whatever was happening, Hermione was suffering. We had to get out of this.

"Here you go." I had never been happier to hear Luna's voice in my life. She undid our bindings, and smiled at me. "What did you do to your face, Harry?" She asked when he turned around.

"A stinging jinx." He said in answer as he rubbed his wrists gently. Ron had started pounding on the door, trying to escape. Trying to get to Hermione.

"We can't get out." Luna said. "But it's okay, because Draco will rescue us."

"How the bloody hell will that git rescue us?" Ron demanded as he turned around to face Luna. His face was red, with anger, and every time Hermione screamed I could see a vein in his forehead throb.

"I don't suppose you have any light?" Luna asked. Ron grumbled, and clicked his deluminator. Light filled the dungeon, and I looked around.

"Debby!" I said, in surprise as I saw the small little house elf apparate into the room, with another house elf that I didn't recognise.

"Dobby!" Harry said when he saw the other house elf.

"Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends." The strange house elf said.

"Young Mis-Ginny!" Debby hiccuped, and I was surprised when she threw herself at me. "Debby has missed you greatly." She said. "Young-Draco has as well. He sent Debby now to rescue you and friends."

"Debby, we have another friend who needs rescuing." I said. "What about her?"

"Debby will rescue her first, then." Debby said, and apparated away.

"What are you doing, you stupid elf?" I heard Bellatrix scream. I winced as the sound was followed by a more frustrated scream.

"GET POTTER!" She shouted at someone. On Harry's instructions, Dobby had apparated Luna, Ollivander, and Dean away.

Debby and Dobby came back at the same time. Debby grabbed my hand, with a smile, and Dobby took Harry, Ron, and Griphook.

I was surprised at how it felt to apparate with a house elf.

Rather than the usual tight squeeze, it felt like going down an incredibly steep, and wild roller coaster. My stomach felt like it was in my throat the whole way.

I was incredibly surprised when we appeared in Draco's room. In the light from his room, I could see now the school tie that Debbie wore around her neck. Her freedom.

That was why she had rescued Hermione and myself.

But Hermione wasn't in Draco's room.

"Come on." Draco said. I looked up at him, and felt myself lost in his gaze again. I shook my head quickly, trying to get out of it.

"Where?"

"Shell Cottage." he said. He held out his hand to me, and I took it. I had no idea where Shell Cottage was. I didn't know if that was where the others were. I didn't know if that was where I should go. But I did know that if draco was going to be with me, I wanted to be there.

The journey was quick, and I found myself on a beautiful beach, in front of Harry and Ron, who held an unconscious Hermione between them.

**A/N:** I apologise for any and all confusion this chapter and future ones may cause. As I'm sure you may know, or may have guessed if you're new to this story, it's been a while since I've worked on it. I've read the past few chapters to catch myself up, but not much. I really felt like I had to get something out tonight. I'll try to post another chapter again tomorrow, I promise. I feel really horrible about having not updated in so long.

But, anyway, I LOVE reviews. Please review. Reviews make for a happy me.

And a happy me makes for more chapters.


	27. Chapter TwentySix

~Ginny's P.O.V.~

"Okay, so what if he helped us get out of his house, a zebra can't change its spots." Ron hissed. The four of us were in the room Hermione, Luna and I were sharing at Shell Cottage.

Hermione rolled her eyes. Fleur, studying to be a healer, had prescribed her bed rest, so she was tucked into her bed, barely moving.

"First of all, Ron, a zebra has stripes. It's a leopard who has spots. Not to mention, you have to admit, he's not nearly as bad as we used to think." Hermione said.

"Harry, there's no way you're going to agree to let the ferret come with us, is there?" Ron turned now to Harry, knowing that both Hermione and myself were on the pro-Draco bandwagon.

Harry glanced at me, and remained silent, clearly thinking. Ron growled and stood up. "Right. I'm going to go help Fleur with dinner." He said, stomping down the stairs. Hermione sighed, and looked at me. I shook my head. There was no way I was going to go and try to talk Ron down while he was in this state. Not the grumpy part, and especially not the hating Draco part.

In the end, Harry nodded to me, which made me throw myself onto Luna's bed, where he was sitting, and wrap my arms around him. When I pulled back I kissed him softly on the cheek.

"I'm sorry." I said, but Harry held up his hands.

"It's okay. I understand." He said. He smiled, and I walked to the room the boys shared, to tell Draco the great news.

He was lying on his bed, while Dean threw him dirty looks. I practically threw myself on him in my excitement. Dean hastily excused himself, telling us that he could smell dinner.

"So I can come?" Draco's face lit up as he held me tight. I pressed my face into his neck, breathing in the scent that was entirely Draco.

"Of course." I whispered. We stayed like that for a while, until there was a cough at the door.

"Okay, if you're going to be with us, we need to fill you in." I hadn't noticed Harry walk in. Then, I'd been more focused on trying to never let Draco go. Harry smiled at me as he sat down on his bed. Ron glared at Draco as he sat next to him.

"Gin, Hermione asked for you." Harry said. I rolled my eyes, but gave Draco a quick kiss before leaving him.

"Ginny, I have a favour to ask of you." Hermione said as soon as I walked in. She gestured her head to the door, so I closed it behind me.

"Of course. What is it, Mione?" I asked, sitting down next to her.

"Well, it's just... You can heal, can't you?"

"Well..."

"I mean, without using spells." I nodded. I knew what she was asking, just from the look in her eyes, and I nodded again, before closing my eyes, and resting one hand on her head, and the other on her arm, where Bellatrix had carved the word mudblood.

"I'm not sure how well this will work." I whispered, as I felt light seeping from my hands and into her. When I opened my eyes again, there was a faint scar on her arm, and she looked fresh, like she'd just had a long sleep.

"Oh, Ginny, you're a miracle worker." Hermione said as she sat up and flung her arms around her friend. "Now, if you can just convince Ron that Draco's a nice guy, we can probably call you Jesus."

I recoiled at that. The mention of the son of the lord reminded me of all those Sunday school lessons. And brought back a painful throbbing as I remembered Chris.

"Oh, I'm sorry Ginny." Hermione said as she pulled back, realising what her words had reminded me of. "Come on, Fleur's bound to have finished dinner by now." She said, before taking my shoulders and helping me downstairs.

As expected, dinner was ready, served at the table, for all bar Ollivander and Griphook, who were upstairs in the only other two rooms of the house. Bill and Fleur, being the wonderful hosts they were, took the loung. Fleur, used to a lot more comfort, was put out by this, but accepted it.

"I know 'Arry weell defeat You Know 'oo, and we need to help heem." She had told Bill as she had made the couch her bed. Bill had looked at his beautiful wife in a new light, and kissed her passionately.

I must admit, I hadn't liked Fleur too much when I first saw her, in my third year. She had seemed like an airhead, and I hadn't thought that there would be any substance to her at all. Typically, I wasn't surprised when she had failed so hilariously at her tasks. But seeing her now, with Bill, loving him, despite the scars on one side of his face that he would forever take with him, it inspired me. I already had love like that. I knew that no matter what happened, no matter what Draco looked like, I would always love him.

We ate happily enough, and when we had finished, Bill said that he could take Dean and Luna to Aunt Murial's. He had suggested taking Griphook and Ollivander as well, leaving him and Fleur with only five guests, but Harry had asked them to let those two stay another day. Fleur had a look of disgust on her as she took dinner up to Griphook. Needless to say, she wasn't too fond of the goblin, nor of the way he treated her like a servant.

~Draco's P.O.V.~

"You don't _actually_ believe that your wand did something by itself?" I scoffed. "That's impossible."

"Look, Draco, I'm trying to give you a chance here. It's hard enough that my best friend, your _girlfriend's_ brother, hates you. I'm trying to put some years of animosity behind me, but it's getting harder the more you criticize me."

"You're right, Harry, I'm sorry." I said, truly meaning it. I looked into his emerald eyes, and saw acceptance of my apology. The Boy Who Lived nodded, before turning back to Ollivander.

"I know what I saw, I know people think I'm crazy, but... I know it happened. I just don't know _how_."

Ollivander was as confused about the whole situation as I was. He shook his shaggy white head. Finally, we accepted that he didn't have anything of worth to add, so we went back to the goblin's room, where the other three were animatedly talking to Griphook, discussing how to break into Gringotts.

I knew it wasn't in the Malfoy vault. I could swear to that. But whether or not it was definitely in Auntie Bella's vault, I don't know.

~Griphook's P.O.V.~

From my advantage point, ontop of the Potter-boy's shoulders, I could easily see the cup they were reaching for. Goblin made, the goblet was simple enough. Gold, with the crest of Helga Hufflepuff magic'ed on.

Why do wizards always have to ruin the best of our inventions?

Like Gryffindor's blade. The finest blade ever made by goblin hands. My ancestors worked their fingers to the bone to make it the sharpest blade alive. We instilled it with magics that would stop rust, and stop the blade from blunting, or chipping.

In short, it was perfect. But, typically, that Godric idiot decided that it didn't look unique enough. Any goblin could have easily told him how the handle told it apart, and the length of the blade, not to mention the brilliant craftmanship. But that fool of a so-called-brave (reality: stupid) airhead decided to mark it for his own.

While the blade itself was still wondrous, and deadly (somehow it had become impregnated with basilisk venom, which I stored in my mind for future reference) it had carved into its length _Godric Gryffindor._ Not to mention the crest, and the ruby he had spelled into the hilt.

Why can't wizards accept beauty when they see it?

This cup was clearly not the best of our work. It was spelled to stop all poisons. How that retch of a Riddle boy ever managed to get part of his soul in there is beyond me.

"I've got it!" The Weasley girl cried out, waving the goblet over her head. Her face instantly winced in pain, as her hand burned when she grabbed it, and immediately five more, identical goblets appeared in the air around her hand, before clattering on the floor.

More and more goblets appeared, and while the kids backed away towards the door, spilling more and more of the spelled fortune around them, I dove to the sword. Granger had grabbed it out, and was trying to use it to get some of the fortune away from her so she could walk safely.

Successfully grabbing the sword, I spun around and ran out, planning to lock them in the vault.

That plan didn't work, however, as they ran out of the vault moments after myself. I still had a good lead, though, so I kept on running, grabbing the clankers and waving them around, making noise to scare the near-blind dragon as I ran right past her.

~Ginny's P.O.V.~

I held onto Draco's hand, gripping it tightly as we dove off of the dragon's back, and into the surprisingly icy water of the lake.

"Come on." Harry said when we had surfaced, as he struck out towards the nearest bank. We all followed him. When we were out, Draco shivered slightly in the cold, and before I knew it, a warm, bordering hot breeze swept over us all, and in a few moments we were dry.

"What was that?" Ron demanded, pulling his shirt away from his skin, wondering at how it had been wet and clinging only moments before.

"I think that was Ginny." Hermione said, her voice barely above a whisper as she looked at me, as if to confirm. I shrugged, and nodded. I guess it sort of felt like it was me, but I don't remember doing anything.

"That's amazing." Harry said, meeting my eyes. In his green ones, I could still see the fondness he held for me. I could see that he still wished I weren't in love with Draco. And in a moment, I felt his pain, that I was in love with someone else.

_I was in Draco's arms, but I was amazingly beautiful. My hair wasn't so crazy. It fell in styled ringlets, and was a darker colour, not the out of control flame-red I was now used to seeing in the mirror. My skin was pale, but seemed to glow. I didn't look tired, there weren't any bags under my eyes, which were a darker violet, not nearly so bright, and stark. I appeared slender, though I definitely had a perfect body, with amazing curves. _

_Draco was the same. His hair shone blonde, as if lit from behind. His grey eyes were lighter, and his skin also seemed to glow slightly. He didn't look weary, or sullen. His hair wasn't lank and unkempt, and his lips weren't frozen in the almost permanent frown I seemed to see on them lately._

_And I felt my heart breaking. I saw it before me. A crystalline, hallmark version of a heart, shattering into a million pieces. I couldn't breathe. The me I saw was perfect. I saw beyond her beauty, and I saw my personality. There were no flaws. I wasn't damaged. I wasn't distressed. I wasn't the wielder of dangerous and unknown magics. I was just me. A girl, happy, with a breathtaking smile. And seeing me happy in someone else's arms, it broke my heart._

_Yet, at the same time that it broke my heart, I knew there was no way I could claim this girl. This girl who was me, but not me. I knew that I could make her happy. I knew that she would wake up next to me and smile, that she would still be free. Yet, I knew that I couldn't make her heart pound in fear the same way this man could. I knew that I couldn't make her give me that special smile that she gave him. That smile which lit up her entire face, and created the most beautiful picture I have ever seen. I knew that if I tried to take her away from him, she would beat against my chest, she would scream, and cry, and never forgive me._

_And so, while it broke my heart, I knew that I must let her go in order for her to be happy._

I shuddered, as I looked at Harry again, with the knowledge of how he truly thought of me in my mind.


End file.
